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Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (b. 1832―d. 1920) was a central figure in German culture between the second half of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century. Coming from a medical and neurophysiological background with a PhD in medicine, Wundt shifted his interest toward psychological and philosophical questions, becoming full professor of philosophy: first, at the University of Zurich in 1874; then, at the University of Leipzig in 1875. In the early 21st century, he is known worldwide as one of the founders of scientific psychology. In Leipzig, he founded in 1879 the Psychological Laboratory, which later became the first psychological institute in the world. Moreover, he founded the first journal for experimental psychology, which he called Philosophische Studien (Philosophical Studies), later Psychologische Studien (Psychological Studies). In so doing, he created the first international training center for psychologists, attracting to Leipzig students from all over the world. Wundt had a significant impact upon the development of scientific psychology in many countries, not least in the United States, where his former students founded psychological laboratories inspired by the Leipzig model. Apart from his contributions to psychology, Wundt also developed a philosophical system that is crucial to understanding his psychological program and methodology, but which has not received due attention among psychologists. Wundt’s writings have been published in different, mostly enlarged editions throughout his career. The great majority of these volumes have not yet been translated into English, and the same holds true for much of the relevant research literature.
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James’s work is admittedly cross-disciplinary to the extent that it defies traditional scholarly boundaries. One of the best examples is the cross-fertilization between his philosophical and psychological ideas, although the precise relation between them is not easy to frame. Notwithstanding this difficulty, one can say that James’s early psychology, developed between the 1870s and 1880s, illuminates many aspects of his later philosophical positions, including pragmatism, radical empiricism, and pluralism. First, James defends the teleological nature of mind, which is driven by subjective interests and goals that cannot be explained by the immediate interchange with the external environment. They are spontaneous variations that constitute the a priori, properly active nature of the human mind. This idea helps him not only explain important features of scientific and philosophical theories, but also reject certain philosophical doctrines such as materialism, determinism, agnosticism, and so on. It represents, so to speak, the relevance of the subjective method for deciding moral and metaphysical issues. Second, James claims that certain temperaments underlie the choice of philosophical systems. Thus, both pragmatism and pluralism can be seen as philosophical expressions of subjective influences. In the first case, pragmatism expresses a temperament that combines and harmonizes the tender-minded and the tough-minded. In the second, pluralism reflects the sympathetic temperament in contrast with the cynical character drawn to materialism. Finally, James proposes a distinction between the substantive and the transitive parts of consciousness, meaning that consciousness has clearly distinguishable aspects as well as more obscure points, although human beings tend to focus only on the first part, ignoring the other. This idea plays a decisive role in the elaboration of radical empiricism. Such illustrations, far from exhausting the relations between James’s psychology and philosophy, invite new insights and further scholarship.
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Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) is one of the most famous names in the history of psychology. After passing into oblivion for nearly 60 years, in recent decades he has been celebrated in general psychology textbooks as the founding father of scientific psychology. However, this traditional portrait is incomplete and can lead to misunderstandings, as his psychological program is primarily understood in terms of experimental psychology. In order to complete this traditional picture, two aspects of his work must be emphasized and clarified: the role of Völkerpsychologie as the counterpart of experimental or individual psychology, and the interaction between his psychological program and his philosophical project. The ultimate meaning of Wundt’s conception of scientific psychology cannot be understood in isolation from his broader philosophical goals. Reading Wundt from the point of view of such interaction offers a deeper understanding of his work.