German psychology of to-day : the empirical school / by Th. Ribot ; tr. from the 2d French ed. by James Mark Baldwin ; with a preface by James McCosh.

  • Ribot, Th. (Théodule), 1839-1916.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: German psychology of to-day : the empirical school / by Th. Ribot ; tr. from the 2d French ed. by James Mark Baldwin ; with a preface by James McCosh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    direct and a much fuller knowledge of mind by the inner sense; but this can not be put in so scientific a form. The result we reach is that we are to attain a knowledge of mind by the judicious combination of the two processes, the one aiding the other. But the impression should not be left that we can gain a true knowledge of mind, of its lofty ideas, say of order and design, of perfection and infinity, or of its sentiments of reverence, benevolence, hope and love by mere experimenting on its material adjuncts which act and are acted upon by it. I do not regard this physiological psychology as consti- tuting a new psychology, as is claimed by M. Kibot. It is a nev/ and promising branch of the old science. It has not altogether been overlooked in ages past. The founder of Psychology, Aristotle, treated of the senses, and sought to determine the functions of each. Descartes made observa- tions on the brain, and Berkeley showed that we can not discern distance directly by the eye. The Scottish school has given attention to the same inlets; and its principal masters, Reid, Brown, and Hamilton were acquainted with the most advanced physiology of their day. But it is admitted on all hands that science now requires and has vigorously commenced a more searching examination than our older inquirers could institute as to the mutual relations of mind and brain. Young inquirers are rushing into the field as adventurers do to a newly discovered mine. There are certain departments in which physiological psychology has made valuable discoveries and will make more, and these of increasing value. In particular: 1. By it and by it alone xve can investigate the bodily senses, including the sense of temperature, in all of which there are still mysteries whose solution will throw light on the mode of the mind's action. It will, I believe, at no distant date be settled whether each of the senses, as is probable, has a special seat in the brain.