Theodor Waitz (17 March 182121 May 1864) was a German psychologist and anthropologist. His research in psychology brought him into touch with anthropology, and he will be best remembered by his monumental work in six volumes, ''Die Anthropologie der Naturvölker'' ("The anthropology of peoples that live close to nature").

Biography

Waitz was born at

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

and educated at the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

. He made philosophy, philology and mathematics his chief studies, and in 1848 he was appointed associate professor of philosophy at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

(full professor, 1862). He was a severe critic of the philosophy of

Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Ka ...

Schelling Schelling is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Caroline Schelling (1763–1809), German intellectual * Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher * Felix Emanuel Schelling (1858–1945), American educato ...

and Hegel, and considered psychology to be the basis of all philosophy. He died in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

Theorizing boredom

Theodor Waitz contributed significantly as an affective psychologist, particularly in the field of conceptualizing boredom.According to Waitz, boredom was about flow of thoughts. As one thought begets another, expectations on where this thought is moving towards are generated. Boredom arises when those expectations are not met. Boredom is basically associated with a break in the expected flow of thoughts because of a mismatch between expected and actual mental activity.

Works

The first four volumes of his ''Anthropologie der Naturvölker'' appeared at Leipzig, 1859–64, the last two were issued posthumously, edited by

Georg Gerland Georg Cornelius Karl Gerland (29 January 1833, in Kassel – 16 February 1919, in Strasbourg) was a German anthropologist and geophysicist. He studied classical philology, Germanistics and anthropology at the universities of Berlin and Marb ...

. Waitz also published: * ''Grundlegung der Psychologie'' (1846). * ''Lehrbuch der Psychologie als Naturwissenschaft'' (1849). * ''Allgemeine Pedagogik'' (1852). * ''Die Indianer Nordamerikas'' (1864). * ''Aristotelis Organon graece''; a critical edition of the ''Organon'' of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

(1844).

References

* * Burton, R.F. (1864), "Notes on Waitz's ''Anthropology''", '' Anthropological Review'', Vol. II, pp. 233–50. Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waitz, Theodor 1821 births 1864 deaths German psychologists German anthropologists University of Marburg faculty People from Gotha (town)