Wilhelm Wundt
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Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (; ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the fathers of modern
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and
biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
, was the first person ever to call himself a
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology"."Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt"
in ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.
In 1879, at the
University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
, Wundt founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research. This marked psychology as an independent field of study. By creating this laboratory he was able to establish psychology as a separate science from other disciplines. He also established the first academic journal for psychological research, ''
Philosophische Studien ''Philosophische Studien'' (''Philosophical Studies'') was the first journal of experimental psychology, founded by Wilhelm Wundt in 1881. The first volume was published in 1883; the last, the 18th, in 1903. Wundt then founded a similar volume ...
'' (from 1883 to 1903) (followed by another: ''Psychologische Studien'', from 1905 to 1917), to publish the institute's research. A survey published in ''
American Psychologist ''American Psychologist'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal publishes articles of broad interest to psychologists, including empirical reports and scholarly reviews covering scien ...
'' in 1991 ranked Wundt's reputation as first for "all-time eminence" based on ratings provided by 29 American historians of psychology.
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
and
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
were ranked a distant second and third.


Biography


Early life

Wundt was born at
Neckarau Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
,
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
(now part of
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
) on 16 August 1832, the fourth child to parents Maximilian Wundt (a
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
minister), and his wife Marie Frederike, née Arnold (1797–1868). Wundt's paternal grandfather was Friedrich Peter Wundt (1742–1805), Professor of Geography and pastor in
Wieblingen Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students. ...
. When Wundt was about six years of age, his family moved to Heidelsheim, then a small medieval town in
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. Born in Germany at a time that was considered very economically stable, Wundt grew up during a period in which the reinvestment of wealth into educational, medical and technological development was commonplace. An economic strive for the advancement of knowledge catalyzed the development of a new psychological study method, and facilitated his development into the prominent psychological figure he is today.


Education and Heidelberg career

Wundt studied from 1851 to 1856 at the
University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
, at the
University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
, and at the
University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
. After graduating as a
doctor of medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...
from Heidelberg (1856), with doctoral advisor Karl Ewald Hasse, Wundt studied briefly with
Johannes Peter Müller Johannes Peter Müller (14 July 1801 – 28 April 1858) was a German physiologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, ichthyology, ichthyologist, and herpetology, herpetologist, known not only for his discoveries but also for his ability ...
, before joining the Heidelberg University's staff, becoming an assistant to the
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
and physiologist
Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Association, ...
in 1858 with responsibility for teaching the laboratory course in physiology. There he wrote ''Contributions to the Theory of Sense Perception'' (1858–1862). In 1864, he became Associate Professor for
Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
and Medical Psychology and published a textbook about human physiology. However, his main interest, according to his lectures and classes, was not in the medical field – he was more attracted by psychology and related subjects. His lectures on psychology were published as ''Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology'' in 1863–1864. Wundt applied himself to writing a work that came to be one of the most important in the history of psychology, ''Principles of Physiological Psychology'', in 1874. This was the first textbook that was written pertaining to the field of experimental psychology.


Marriage and family

In 1867, near Heidelberg, Wundt met Sophie Mau (1844–1912). She was the eldest daughter of the Kiel theology professor :de: Heinrich August Mau and his wife Louise, née von Rumohr, and a sister of the archaeologist
August Mau August Mau (15 October 1840 – 6 March 1909) was a prominent German art historian and archaeologist who worked with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut while studying and classifying the Roman paintings at Pompeii, which was destroyed with ...
. They married on 14 August 1872 in Kiel. The couple had three children: Eleanor (*1876–1957), who became an assistant to her father in many ways, Louise, called Lilli, (*1880–1884) and :de: Max Wundt (*1879–1963), who became a philosophy professor.


Career in Zurich and Leipzig

In 1875, Wundt was promoted to professor of "Inductive Philosophy" in Zurich, and in 1875, Wundt was made professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig where Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795–1878) and
Gustav Theodor Fechner Gustav Theodor Fechner (; ; 19 April 1801 – 18 November 1887) was a German physicist, philosopher, and experimental psychologist. A pioneer in experimental psychology and founder of psychophysics (techniques for measuring the mind), he inspired ...
(1801–1887) had initiated research on sensory psychology and
psychophysics Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, m ...
– and where two centuries earlier
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...
had developed his philosophy and
theoretical psychology Theoretical psychology is concerned with theoretical and philosophical aspects of psychology. It is an interdisciplinary field with a wide scope of study. It focuses on combining and incorporating existing and developing theories of psychology non- ...
, which strongly influenced Wundt's intellectual path. Wundt's admiration for Ernst Heinrich Weber was clear from his memoirs, where he proclaimed that Weber should be regarded as the father of experimental psychology: "I would rather call Weber the father of experimental psychology…It was Weber's great contribution to think of measuring psychic quantities and of showing the exact relationships between them, to be the first to understand this and carry it out."


Laboratory of Experimental Psychology

In 1879, at the University of Leipzig, Wundt opened the first laboratory ever to be exclusively devoted to psychological studies, and this event marked the official birth of psychology as an independent field of study. The new lab was full of graduate students carrying out research on topics assigned by Wundt, and it soon attracted young scholars from all over the world who were eager to learn about the new science that Wundt had developed. The University of Leipzig assigned Wundt a lab in 1876 to store equipment he had brought from Zurich. Located in the Konvikt building, many of Wundt's demonstrations took place in this laboratory due to the inconvenience of transporting his equipment between the lab and his classroom. Wundt arranged for the construction of suitable instruments and collected many pieces of equipment such as
tachistoscope A tachistoscope is a device that displays an image for a specific amount of time. It can be used to increase recognition speed, to show something too fast to be consciously recognized, or to test which elements of an image are memorable. Proj ...
s, chronoscopes, pendulums, electrical devices, timers, and sensory mapping devices, and was known to assign an instrument to various graduate students with the task of developing uses for future research in experimentation. Between 1885 and 1909, there were 15 assistants.Anneros Meischner-Metge: Wilhelm Wundt und seine Schüler. In: Horst-Peter Brauns (Ed.): Zentenarbetrachtungen. Historische Entwicklungen in der neueren Psychologie bis zum Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Peter Lang, Frankfurt a.M. 2003, pp. 156–166. In 1879, Wundt began conducting experiments that were not part of his course work, and he claimed that these independent experiments solidified his lab's legitimacy as a formal laboratory of psychology, though the university did not officially recognize the building as part of the campus until 1883. The laboratory grew and encompassing a total of eleven rooms, the Psychological Institute, as it became known, eventually moved to a new building that Wundt had designed specifically for psychological research.


Wundt's teaching in the Institute for Experimental Psychology

The list of Wundt's lectures during the winter terms of 1875–1879 shows a wide-ranging programme, 6 days a week, on average 2 hours daily, e.g. in the winter term of 1875: Psychology of language,
Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
,
Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
and
Epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...
; and during the subsequent summer term:
Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, Brain and Nerves, as well as
Physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
.
Cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
, Historical and General Philosophy were included in the following terms.


Wundt's doctoral students

Wundt was responsible for an extraordinary number of doctoral dissertations between 1875 and 1919: 184 students included 70 foreigners (of which 23 were from Russia, Poland and other east-European countries and 18 were from America). Several of Wundt's students became eminent psychologists in their own right. They include: the Germans
Oswald Külpe Oswald Külpe (; 3 August 1862 – 30 December 1915) was a German structural psychologist of the late 19th and early 20th century. Külpe, who is lesser known than his German mentor, Wilhelm Wundt, revolutionized experimental psychology at his t ...
(a professor at the University of Würzburg),
Ernst Meumann Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm Meumann (29 August 1862, Uerdingen, Krefeld – 26 April 1915, Hamburg, German Empire) was a German educator, pedagogist and psychologist, the founder of experimental pedagogy.Stoerring, G"Ernst Meumann 1862–1915" ''T ...
(a professor in Leipzig and
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
and pioneer in pedagogical psychology), Hugo Münsterberg a professor in
Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
and at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, a pioneer in applied psychology), Willy Hellpach (in Germany known for cultural psychology). The Americans listed include James McKeen Cattell (the first professor of psychology in the United States),
Granville Stanley Hall Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1846 – April 24, 1924) was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on human life span development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psy ...
(the father of the child psychology movement and adolescent developmental theorist, head of
Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...
),
Charles Hubbard Judd Charles Hubbard Judd (February 20, 1873 – July 18, 1946) was an American educational psychologist who played an influential role in the formation of the discipline. Part of the larger scientific movement of this period, Judd pushed for the us ...
(Director of the School of Education at the University of Chicago),
Walter Dill Scott Walter Dill Scott (May 1, 1869 – September 24, 1955) was one of the first applied psychologists. He applied psychology to various business practices such as personnel selection and advertising. Early life Scott was born in Cooksville, Illino ...
(who contributed to the development of industrial psychology and taught at Harvard University), Edward Bradford Titchener,
Lightner Witmer Lightner Witmer (June 28, 1867 – July 19, 1956) was an American psychologist. He introduced the term " clinical psychology" and is often credited with founding the field that it describes. Witmer created the world's first "psychological clinic" ...
(founder of the first psychological clinic in his country),
Frank Angell Frank Angell (July 8, 1857 – November 2, 1939) was an early American psychologist and the former athletic director at Stanford University. Biography Angell was born in 1857 in Scituate, Rhode Island. He graduated from the University of Vermo ...
, Edward Wheeler Scripture,
James Mark Baldwin James Mark Baldwin (January 12, 1861, Columbia, South Carolina – November 8, 1934, Paris) was an American philosopher and psychologist who was educated at Princeton under the supervision of Scottish philosopher James McCosh and who was one o ...
(one of the founders of Princeton's Department of Psychology and who made important contributions to early psychology, psychiatry, and to the theory of evolution). Wundt, thus, is present in the academic "family tree" of the majority of American psychologists, first and second generation. – Worth mentioning are the Englishman
Charles Spearman Charles Edward Spearman, FRS (10 September 1863 – 17 September 1945) was an English psychologist known for work in statistics, as a pioneer of factor analysis, and for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. He also did seminal work on mod ...
; the Romanian
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru Constantin Rădulescu-Motru (; born Constantin Rădulescu, he added the surname ''Motru'' in 1892; February 15, 1868 – March 6, 1957) was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as left-nat ...
(Personalist philosopher and head of the Philosophy department at the university of
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
),
Hugo Eckener Hugo Eckener (10 August 1868 – 14 August 1954) Schwensen Thomas Adam. p. 289 ostsee.de was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and also the commander of the famous '' Graf Zeppelin'' for most of its record-set ...
, the manager of the
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as ''Zeppelins'' due to the company's prominence. The name ...
– not to mention those students who became philosophers (like Rudolf Eisler or the Serbian
Ljubomir Nedić Ljubomir Nedić ( sr, Љубомир Недић; 25 April 1858 – 29 July 1902) was a Serbian philosopher and literary critic. Having received academic training in philosophy at the University of Leipzig, Nedić taught at the Belgrade Higher Sc ...
). – Students (or visitors) who were later to become well known included Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (Bechterev),
Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...
,
Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
,
Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...
, Bronisław Malinowski,
George Herbert Mead George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded a ...
,
Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sap ...
, Ferdinand Tönnies,
Benjamin Lee Whorf Benjamin Lee Whorf (; April 24, 1897 – July 26, 1941) was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer. He is known for " Sapir–Whorf hypothesis," the idea that differences between the structures of different languages shape how the ...
. Much of Wundt's work was derided mid-century in the United States because of a lack of adequate translations, misrepresentations by certain students, and
behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent (behavioral psychology), antecedent stimuli in the environment, o ...
's polemic with Wundt's program.Fahrenberg: Wilhelm Wundt – Pionier der Psychologie ''und'' Außenseiter? Leitgedanken der Wissenschaftskonzeption und deren Rezeptionsgeschichte, 2011.


Retirement and death

Wundt retired in 1917 to devote himself to his scientific writing. According to Wirth (1920), over the summer of 1920, Wundt "felt his vitality waning ... and soon after his eighty-eighth birthday, he died ... a gentle death on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 3" (p. 1). Wundt is buried in Leipzig's South Cemetery with his wife, Sophie.


Awards

Wundt was awarded honorary doctorates from 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 wel ...
and
Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
, and the
Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Or ...
for Science and Arts. He was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Wundt was an honorary member of 12 scientific organizations or societies. He was a corresponding member of 13 academies in Germany and abroad. Wundt's name was given to the
Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...
Vundtia (635).


Overview of Wundt's work

Wundt was initially a physician and a well-known neurophysiologist before turning to sensory physiology and psychophysics. He was convinced that, for example, the process of spatial perception could not solely be explained on a physiological level, but also involved psychological principles. Wundt founded experimental psychology as a discipline and became a pioneer of
cultural psychology Cultural psychology is the study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members.Heine, S. J. (2011). ''Cultural Psychology. ''New York: W. W. Norton & Company. It is based on the premise that mind and culture are i ...
. He created a broad research programme in empirical psychology and developed a system of philosophy and ethics from the basic concepts of his psychology – bringing together several disciplines in one person. Wundt's epistemological position – against
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
and English
empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
(
sensualism In epistemology, Sensualism is a doctrine whereby sensations and perception are the basic and most important form of true cognition. It may oppose abstract ideas. This ideogenetic question was long ago put forward in Greek philosophy ( Stoicism, ...
) – was made clear in his book ''Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung'' (Contributions on the Theory of Sensory Perception) published in 1862, by his use of a quotation from
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...
on the title page: "Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu, nisi intellectu ipse." (Leibniz, Nouveaux essais, 1765, Livre II, Des Idées, Chapitre 1, § 6). – Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses, except the intellect itself. Principles that are not present in sensory impressions can be recognised in human perception and consciousness:
logical inference Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word ''wikt:infer, infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deductive reasoning, deduction and in ...
s,
categories Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) * ...
of thought, the principle of
causality Causality (also referred to as causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the cau ...
, the principle of purpose (
teleology Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...
), the principle of
emergence In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergence ...
and other epistemological principles. Wundt's most important books are: * ''Lehrbuch der Physiologie des Menschen'' (Textbook of Human Physiology) (1864/1865, 4th ed. 1878); * ''Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie'' (Principles of Physiological Psychology), (1874; 6th ed. 1908–1911, 3 Vols.); * ''System der Philosophie'' (System of Philosophy), (1889; 4th ed. 1919, 2 Vols.); * ''Logik. Eine Untersuchung der Prinzipien der Erkenntnis und der Methoden wissenschaftlicher Forschung'' (Logic. An investigation into the principles of knowledge and the methods of scientific research), (1880–1883; 4th ed. 1919–1921, 3 Vols.); * ''Ethik'' (Ethics), (1886; 3rd ed. 1903, 2 Vols.); * ''Völkerpsychologie. Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsgesetze von Sprache, Mythos und Sitte'' (Cultural Psychology. An investigation into developmental laws of language, myth, and conduct), (1900–1920, 10 Vols.); * ''Grundriss der Psychologie'' (Outline of Psychology), (1896; 14th ed. 1920). These 22 volumes cover an immense variety of topics. On examination of the complete works, however, a close relationship between Wundt's theoretical psychology,
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...
and
methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...
can be seen. English translations are only available for the best-known works: ''Principles of physiological Psychology'' (only the single-volume 1st ed. of 1874) and ''Ethics'' (also only 1st ed. of 1886). Wundt's work remains largely inaccessible without advanced knowledge of German. Its reception, therefore, is still greatly hampered by misunderstandings, stereotypes and superficial judgements.


Central themes in Wundt's work


Memory

Wilhelm Wundt conducted experiments on memory, which would be considered today as iconic memory, short-term memory, and enactment and generation effects.


Process theory

Psychology is interested in the current process, i.e. the mental changes and functional relationships between
perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
,
cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
,
emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
, and volition/
motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...
. Mental (psychological) phenomena are changing processes of
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
. They can only be determined as an
actuality In philosophy, potentiality and actuality are a pair of closely connected principles which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his ''Physics'', ''Metaphysics'', '' Nicomachean Ethics'', and ''De Anima''. Th ...
, an "immediate reality of an event in the psychological experience". The relationships of consciousness, i.e. the actively organising processes, are no longer explained
metaphysically Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consci ...
by means of an
immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...
'
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
' or an abstract transcendental ( spiritual) principle.


The delineation of categories

Wundt considered that reference to the subject (Subjektbezug), value assessment (Wertbestimmung), the existence of purpose (Zwecksetzung), and volitional acts (Willenstätigkeit) to be specific and fundamental categories for psychology. He frequently used the formulation "the human as a motivated and thinking subject" in order to characterise features held in common with the
humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
and the categorical difference to the
natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
.


Psychophysical parallelism

Influenced by Leibniz, Wundt introduced the term
psychophysical parallelism In the philosophy of mind, psychophysical parallelism (or simply parallelism) is the theory that mental and bodily events are perfectly coordinated, without any causal interaction between them. As such, it affirms the correlation of mental and bod ...
as follows: "… wherever there are regular relationships between mental and physical phenomena the two are neither identical nor convertible into one another because they are per se incomparable; but they are associated with one another in the way that certain mental processes regularly correspond to certain physical processes or, figuratively expressed, run 'parallel to one another'." Although the inner experience is based on the functions of the brain there are no physical causes for mental changes. Leibniz wrote: "Souls act according to the laws of final causes, through aspirations, ends and means. Bodies act according to the laws of efficient causes, i.e. the laws of motion. And these two realms, that of efficient causes and that of final causes, harmonize with one another." (Monadology, Paragraph 79). Wundt follows Leibniz and differentiates between a ''physical'' causality (natural causality of
neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated b ...
) and a ''mental'' (''psychic'') causality of the consciousness process. Both causalities, however, are not opposites in a dualistic metaphysical sense, but depend on the standpoint Causal explanations in psychology must be content to seek the effects of the antecedent causes without being able to derive exact predictions. Using the example of volitional acts, Wundt describes possible inversion in considering cause and effect, ends and means, and explains how causal and teleological explanations can complement one another to establish a co-ordinated consideration. Wundt's position differed from contemporary authors who also favoured parallelism. Instead of being content with the postulate of parallelism, he developed his principles of ''mental causality'' in contrast to the natural causality of neurophysiology, and a corresponding methodology. There are two fundamentally different approaches of the postulated psychophysical unit, not just two points-of-view in the sense of Gustav Theodor Fechner's
identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...
hypothesis. Psychological and physiological statements exist in two categorically different
reference system In physics and astronomy, a frame of reference (or reference frame) is an abstract coordinate system whose origin, orientation, and scale are specified by a set of reference points― geometric points whose position is identified both mathem ...
s; the important categories are to be emphasised in order to prevent
category mistake A category mistake, or category error, or categorical mistake, or mistake of category, is a semantic or ontological error in which things belonging to a particular category are presented as if they belong to a different category, or, alternativ ...
s as discussed by
Nicolai Hartmann Paul Nicolai Hartmann (; 20 February 1882 – 9 October 1950) was a Baltic German philosopher. He is regarded as a key representative of critical realism and as one of the most important twentieth-century metaphysicians. Biography Hartmann was ...
. In this regard, Wundt created the first genuine epistemology and methodology of empirical psychology (the term
philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
did not yet exist).


Apperception

Apperception Apperception (from the Latin ''ad-'', "to, toward" and ''percipere'', "to perceive, gain, secure, learn, or feel") is any of several aspects of perception and consciousness in such fields as psychology, philosophy and epistemology. Meaning in philo ...
is Wundt's central theoretical concept. Leibniz described apperception as the process in which the elementary sensory impressions pass into (self-)consciousness, whereby individual aspirations (striving, volitional acts) play an essential role. Wundt developed psychological concepts, used experimental psychological methods and put forward neuropsychological modelling in the frontal cortex of the brain system – in line with today's thinking. Apperception exhibits a range of theoretical assumptions on the integrative process of consciousness. The selective control of
attention Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
is an elementary example of such active cognitive, emotional and motivational integration.


Development theory of the mind

The fundamental task is to work out a comprehensive development theory of the
mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
– from
animal psychology Comparative psychology refers to the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior. Research in this area addr ...
to the highest cultural achievements in language, religion and ethics. Unlike other thinkers of his time, Wundt had no difficulty connecting the development concepts of the humanities (in the spirit of
Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
and
Johann Gottfried Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism. Biography Born in Mohrun ...
) with the biological theory of evolution as expounded by
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
.


Critical realism

Wundt determined that "psychology is an empirical science co-ordinating natural science and humanities, and that the considerations of both complement one another in the sense that only together can they create for us a potential empirical knowledge." He claimed that his views were free of metaphysics and were based on certain epistemological
presuppositions In the branch of linguistics known as pragmatics, a presupposition (or PSP) is an implicit assumption about the world or background belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. Examples of presuppositions inclu ...
, including the differentiation of subject and object in the perception, and the principle of causality. With his term ''critical realism'', Wundt distinguishes himself from other philosophical positions.


Definition of psychology

Wundt set himself the task of redefining the broad field of psychology between philosophy and physiology, between the humanities and the natural sciences. In place of the metaphysical definition as a science of the soul came the definition, based on scientific theory, of empirical psychology as a psychology of consciousness with its own categories and epistemological principles. Psychology examines the "entire experience in its immediately subjective reality." The task of psychology is to precisely analyse the processes of consciousness, to assess the complex connections (''psychische Verbindungen''), and to find the laws governing such relationships. #Psychology is 'not a science of the individual soul . Life is a uniform mental and physical process that can be considered in a variety of ways in order to recognise general principles, particularly the psychological-historical and biological principles of
development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...
. Wundt demanded an understanding of the emotional and the volitional functions, in addition to cognitive features, as equally important aspects of the unitary (whole) psychophysical process. #Psychology cannot be reduced to physiology. The tools of physiology remain fundamentally insufficient for the task of psychology. Such a project is meaningless "because the interrelations between mental processes would be incomprehensible even if the interrelations between brain processes were as clearly understood as the mechanism of a pocket watch." #Psychology is concerned with conscious processes. Wundt rejected making
subconscious In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness. Scholarly use of the term The word ''subconscious'' represents an anglicized version of the French ''subconscient'' as coined in 1889 by the psycho ...
mental processes a topic of scientific psychology for epistemological and methodological reasons. In his day there were, before
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
, influential authors such as the philosopher
Eduard von Hartmann Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, was a German philosopher, independent scholar and author of '' Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869). His notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of al ...
(1901), who postulated a metaphysics of ''the unconscious''. Wundt had two fundamental objections. He rejected all primarily metaphysically founded psychology and he saw no reliable methodological approach. He also soon revised his initial assumptions about unconscious judgements When Wundt rejects the assumption of "the unconscious" he is also showing his scepticism regarding Fechner's theory of the unconscious and Wundt is perhaps even more greatly influenced by the flood of writing at the time on hypnotism and
spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...
(Wundt, 1879, 1892). While Freud frequently quoted from Wundt's work, Wundt remained sceptical about all hypotheses that operated with the concept of "the unconscious".For Wundt it would be just as much a misunderstanding to define psychology as a
behavioural science Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through naturalistic o ...
in the sense of the later concept of strict
behaviourism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual ...
. Numerous behavioural and psychological variables had already been observed or measured at the Leipzig laboratory. Wundt stressed that physiological effects, for example the physiological changes accompanying
feelings Feelings are subjective self-contained phenomenal experiences. According to the ''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; and feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations ...
, were only tools of psychology, as were the physical measurements of stimulus intensity in
psychophysics Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, m ...
. Further developing these methodological approaches one-sidedly would ultimately, however, lead to a behavioural physiology, i.e. a
scientific reductionism Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical pos ...
, and not to a general psychology and cultural psychology. #Psychology is an empirical humanities science. Wundt was convinced of the triple status of psychology: #* as a science of the direct experience it contrasts with the natural sciences that refer to the indirect content of experience and abstract from the subject; #* as a science "of generally valid forms of direct human experience it is the foundation of the humanities"; #* among all the empirical sciences it was "the one whose results most benefit the examination of the general problems of epistemology and ethics – the two fundamental areas of philosophy." Wundt's concepts were developed during almost 60 years of research and teaching that led him from neurophysiology to psychology and philosophy. The interrelationships between physiology, philosophy, logic, epistemology and ethics are therefore essential for an understanding of Wundt's psychology. The core of Wundt's areas of interest and guiding ideas can already be seen in his ''Vorlesungen über die Menschen- und Tierseele'' (Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology) of 1863: ''individual psychology'' (now known as general psychology, i.e. areas such as perception, attention, apperception, volition, will, feelings and emotions); ''cultural psychology'' (Wundt's Völkerpsychologie) as development theory of the human mind); ''animal psychology''; and ''neuropsychology''. The initial conceptual outlines of the 30-year-old Wundt (1862, 1863) led to a long research program, to the founding of the first Institute and to the treatment of psychology as a discipline, as well as to a range of fundamental textbooks and numerous other publications.


Physiology

During the Heidelberg years from 1853 to 1873, Wundt published numerous essays on physiology, particularly on experimental neurophysiology, a textbook on human physiology (1865, 4th ed. 1878) and a manual of medical physics (1867). He wrote about 70 reviews of current publications in the fields of neurophysiology and neurology, physiology, anatomy and histology. A second area of work was sensory physiology, including spatial perception, visual perception and optical illusions. An
optical illusion Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide v ...
described by him is called the ''
Wundt illusion The Wundt illusion is an optical illusion that was first described by the German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt in the 19th century. The two red vertical lines are both straight, but they may look as if they are bowed inwards to some observers. The ...
'', a variant of the
Hering Illusion The Hering illusion is one of the geometrical-optical illusions and was discovered by the German physiologist Ewald Hering in 1861. When two straight and parallel lines are presented in front of radial background (like the spokes of a bicycle), t ...
. It shows how straight lines appear curved when seen against a set of radiating lines.


Psychology


Starting point

As a result of his medical training and his work as an assistant to Hermann von Helmholtz, Wundt knew the benchmarks of experimental research, as well as the speculative nature of psychology in the mid-19th century. Wundt's aspiration for scientific research and the necessary methodological critique were clear when he wrote of the language of ordinary people, who merely invoked their personal experiences of life, criticized naive introspection, or quoted the influence of uncritical amateur ("folk") psychology on psychological interpretation. His ''Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung'' (1862) shows Wundt's transition from a physiologist to an experimental psychologist. "Why does not psychology follow the example of the natural sciences? It is an understanding that, from every side of the history of the natural sciences, informs us that the progress of every science is closely connected with the progress made regarding experimental methods." With this statement, however, he will in no way treat psychology as a pure natural science, though psychologists should learn from the progress of methods in the natural sciences: "There are two sciences that must come to the aid of general psychology in this regard: the development history of the mind and comparative psychology."


General psychology

The ''Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie'' (''Main Features of Physiological Psychology'') on general psychology is Wundt's best-known textbook. He wanted to connect two sciences with one another. "Physiology provides information on all phenomena of life that can be perceived using our external senses. In psychology humans examine themselves, as it were, from within and look for the connections between these processes to explain which of them represent this inner observation." "With sufficient certainty the approach can indeed be seen as well-founded – that nothing takes place in our consciousness that does not have its physical basis in certain physiological processes.". Wundt believed that physiological psychology had the following task: "firstly, to investigate those life processes that are centrally located, between external and internal experience, which make it necessary to use both observation methods simultaneously, external and internal, and, secondly, to illuminate and, where possible, determine a total view of human existence from the points of view gained from this investigation." "The attribute 'physiological' is not saying that it ... hysiological psychology... wants to reduce the psychology to physiology – which I consider impossible – but that it works with physiological, i.e. experimental, tools and, indeed, more so than is usual in other psychology, takes into account the relationship between mental and physical processes." "If one wants to treat the peculiarities of the method as the most important factor then our science – as experimental psychology – differs from the usual science of the soul purely based on self-observation." After long chapters on the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, the ''Grundzüge'' (1874) has five sections: the mental elements, mental structure, interactions of the mental structure, mental developments, the principles and laws of mental causality. Through his insistence that mental processes were analysed in their elements, Wundt did not want to create a pure element psychology because the elements should simultaneously be related to one another. He describes the sensory impression with the simple sensory feelings, perceptions and volitional acts connected with them, and he explains dependencies and feedbacks.


Apperception theory

Wundt rejected the widespread association theory, according to which mental connections (
learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machine learning, machines ...
) are mainly formed through the frequency and intensity of particular processes. His term ''apperception psychology'' means that he considered the ''creative'' conscious activity to be more important than elementary association. Apperception is an emergent activity that is both arbitrary and selective as well as imaginative and comparative. In this process, feelings and ideas are images apperceptively connected with typical tones of feeling, selected in a variety of ways, analysed, associated and combined, as well as linked with motor and autonomic functions – not simply ''processed'' but also ''creatively synthesised'' (see below on the Principle of creative synthesis). In the integrative process of conscious activity, Wundt sees an elementary activity of the subject, i.e. an act of volition, to deliberately move content into the conscious. Insofar that this emergent activity is typical of all mental processes, it is possible to describe his point-of-view as voluntaristic. Wundt describes apperceptive processes as psychologically highly differentiated and, in many regards, bases this on methods and results from his experimental research. One example is the wide-ranging series of experiments on the
mental chronometry Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time (RT; sometimes referred to as "response time") is meas ...
of complex
reaction time Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time (RT; sometimes referred to as "response time") is meas ...
s. In research on feelings, certain effects are provoked while pulse and breathing are recorded using a
kymograph A kymograph (from Greek κῦμα, swell or wave + γραφή, writing; also called a kymographion) is an analog device that draws a graphical representation of spatial position over time in which a spatial axis represents time. It basically cons ...
. The observed differences were intended to contribute towards supporting Wundt's theory of emotions with its three dimensions: pleasant – unpleasant, tense – relaxed, excited – depressed.


Cultural psychology

Wilhelm Wundt's ''Völkerpsychologie. Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsgesetze von Sprache, Mythus und Sitte'' (''Social Psychology. An Investigation of the Laws of Evolution of Language, Myth, and Custom'', 1900–1920, 10 Vols.) which also contains the evolution of Arts, Law, Society, Culture and ''History'', is a milestone project, a monument of
cultural psychology Cultural psychology is the study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members.Heine, S. J. (2011). ''Cultural Psychology. ''New York: W. W. Norton & Company. It is based on the premise that mind and culture are i ...
, of the early 20th century. The dynamics of cultural development were investigated according to psychological and epistemological principles. Psychological principles were derived from Wundt's psychology of apperception (theory of higher integrative processes, including association, assimilation,
semantic change Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift) is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage—usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from ...
) and
motivation Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...
(will), as presented in his ''Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie'' (1908–1910, 6th ed., 3 Vols.). In contrast to individual psychology, cultural psychology aims to illustrate general mental development laws governing higher intellectual processes: the development of thought, language, artistic imagination, myths, religion, customs, the relationship of individuals to society, the intellectual environment and the creation of intellectual works in a society. "Where deliberate experimentation ends is where history has experimented on the behalf of psychologists." Those mental processes that "underpin the general development of human societies and the creation of joint intellectual results that are of generally recognised value" are to be examined. Stimulated by the ideas of previous thinkers, such as
Johann Gottfried Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism. Biography Born in Mohrun ...
,
Johann Friedrich Herbart Johann Friedrich Herbart (; 4 May 1776 – 14 August 1841) was a German philosopher, psychologist and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline. Herbart is now remembered amongst the post-Kantian philosophers mostly as making the greatest ...
,
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
and
Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named afte ...
(with his ideas about comparative
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
), the psychologist
Moritz Lazarus Moritz Lazarus (15 September 1824 – 13 April 1903), born at Filehne, in the Grand Duchy of Posen, was a German-Jewish philosopher, psychologist, and a vocal opponent of the antisemitism of his time. Life and education He was born at ...
(1851) and the
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
Heymann Steinthal Heymann or Hermann Steinthal (16 May 1823 – 14 March 1899) was a German philologist and philosopher. He studied philology and philosophy at the University of Berlin, and was in 1850 appointed ''Privatdozent'' of philology and mythology at tha ...
founded the ''Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft'' (Journal for Cultural Psychology and Linguistics) in 1860, which gave this field its name. Wundt (1888) critically analysed the, in his view, still disorganised intentions of Lazarus and Steinthal and limited the scope of the issues by proposing a psychologically constituted structure. The cultural psychology of language, myth, and customs were to be based on the three main areas of general psychology: imagining and thought, feelings, and will (motivation). The numerous mental interrelations and principles were to be researched under the perspective of cultural development. Apperception theory applied equally for general psychology and cultural psychology. Changes in meanings and motives were examined in many lines of development, and there are detailed interpretations based on the emergence principle (creative synthesis), the principle of unintended side-effects (heterogony of ends) and the principle of contrast (see section on ''Methodology and Strategies''). The ten volumes consist of: Language (Vols. 1 and 2), Art (Vol. 3), Myths and Religion (Vols. 4 – 6), Society (Vols. 7 and 8), Law (Vol. 9), as well as Culture and History (Vol. 10). The methodology of cultural psychology was mainly described later, in ''Logik'' (1921). Wundt worked on, psychologically linked, and structured an immense amount of material. The topics range from agriculture and trade, crafts and property, through gods, myths and Christianity, marriage and family, peoples and nations to (self-)education and self-awareness, science, the world and humanity. Wundt recognized about 20 ''fundamental dynamic motives in cultural development''. Motives frequently quoted in cultural development are: division of labour, ensoulment, salvation, happiness, production and imitation, child-raising, artistic drive, welfare, arts and magic, adornment, guilt, punishment, atonement, self-education, play, and revenge. Other values and motives emerge in the areas of freedom and justice, war and peace, legal structures, state structures and forms of government; also regarding the development of a world view of culture, religion, state, traffic, and a worldwide political and social society. In religious considerations, many of the values and motives (i.e. belief in soul, immortality, belief in gods and demons, ritualistic acts, witchcraft, animism and totemism) are combined with the motives of art, imagination, dance and ecstasy, as well as with forms of family and power. Wundt saw examples of human
self-education Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individu ...
in walking upright, physical facilities and "an interaction in part forced upon people by external conditions and in part the result of voluntary culture". He described the random appearance and later conscious control of fire as a similar interaction between two motives. In the interaction of human activity and the conditions of nature he saw a creative principle of culture right from the start; tools as cultural products of a second nature. An interactive system of cause and effect, a system of purposes and thus values (and reflexively from standards of one's own activities) is formed according to the principles of one's own thinking. In the ''Elemente der Völkerpsychologie'' (The Elements of Cultural Psychology, 1912) Wundt sketched out four main levels of cultural development: primitive man, the totemistic age, the age of heroes and gods, and the development of humanity. The delineations were unclear and the depiction was greatly simplified. Only this book was translated into English ''Elements of folk-psychology''), thus providing but a much abridged insight into Wundt's differentiated cultural psychology. (The
Folk Psychology In philosophy of mind and cognitive science, folk psychology, or commonsense psychology, is a human capacity to explain and predict the behavior and mental state of other people. Processes and items encountered in daily life such as pain, pleasure ...
part of the title already demonstrates the low level of understanding). In retrospect, 'Völkerpsychologie' was an unfortunate choice of title because it is often misinterpreted as
ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural anthropology, cultural, social anthropolo ...
. Wundt also considered calling it (Social)
Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
,
Social Psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...
and
Community Psychology Community psychology is concerned with the community as the unit of study. This contrasts with most psychology which focuses on the individual. Community psychology also studies the community as a context for the individuals within it,Jim Orfor ...
. The term ''Kulturpsychologie'' would have been more fitting though ''psychological development theory of the mind'' would have expressed Wundt's intentions even better. The intellectual potential and heuristics of Wundt's Cultural Psychology are by no means exhausted.


Neuropsychology

Wundt contributed to the state of
neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology often focus on how injuries or illnesses of t ...
as it existed at the time in three ways: through his criticism of the theory of localisation (then widespread in
neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...
), through his demand for research hypotheses founded on both neurological and psychological thinking, and through his neuropsychological concept of an apperception centre in the frontal cortex. Wundt considered
attention Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether considered subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
and the control of attention an excellent example of the desirable combination of experimental psychological and neurophysiological research. Wundt called for experimentation to localise the higher central nervous functions to be based on clear, psychologically-based research hypotheses because the questions could not be rendered precisely enough on the anatomical and physiological levels alone. Wundt based his central theory of apperception on neuropsychological modelling (from the 3rd edition of the ''Grundzüge'' onwards). According to this, the hypothetical apperception centre in the frontal cerebral cortex that he described could interconnect sensory, motor, autonomic, cognitive, emotional and motivational process componentsFahrenberg: Wundts Neuropsychologie, 2015b. Wundt thus provided the guiding principle of a primarily psychologically-oriented research programme on the highest integrative processes. He is therefore a forerunner of current research on cognitive and emotional
executive functions In cognitive science and neuropsychology, executive functions (collectively referred to as executive function and cognitive control) are a set of cognitive processes that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior: selecting and suc ...
in the prefrontal cerebral cortex, and on hypothetical ''multimodal convergence zones'' in the network of cortical and limbic functions. This concept of an interdisciplinary
neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
is now taken for granted, but Wundt's contribution towards this development has almost been forgotten. C.S. Sherrington repeatedly quotes Wundt's research on the physiology of the reflexes in his textbook, but not Wundt's neuropsychological concepts.


Methodology and strategies

"Given its position between the natural sciences and the humanities, psychology really does have a great wealth of methodological tools. While, on the one hand, there are the experimental methods, on the other hand, objective works and products in cultural development (''Objektivationen des menschlichen Geistes'') also offer up abundant material for comparative psychological analysis". Psychology is an empirical science and must endeavor to achieve a systematic procedure, examination of results, and criticism of its methodology. Thus
self-observation In philosophy of self, self-awareness is the experience of one's own personality or individuality. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is being aware of one's environment and body and lifest ...
must be trained and is only permissible under strict experimental control; Wundt decisively rejects naive
introspection Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's s ...
. Wundt provided a standard definition of psychological experiments. His criticism of
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
(Wundt, 1874) had a major influence. Kant had argued against the assumption of the measurability of conscious processes and made a well-founded, if very short, criticism of the methods of self-observation: regarding method-inherent reactivity, observer error, distorting attitudes of the subject, and the questionable influence of ''independently thinking people'', but Wundt expressed himself optimistic that methodological improvements could be of help here. He later admitted that
measurement Measurement is the quantification of attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events. In other words, measurement is a process of determining how large or small a physical quantity is as compared ...
and mathematics were only applicable for very elementary conscious processes.
Statistical methods Statistics (from German: ''Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industria ...
were also of only limited value, for example in psychophysics or in the evaluation of
population statistics Demographic statistics are measures of the characteristics of, or changes to, a population. Records of births, deaths, marriages, immigration and emigration and a regular census of population provide information that is key to making sound decisio ...
. Experimental psychology in Leipzig mainly lent on four methodological types of assessment: the ''impression methods'' with their various measurement techniques in psychophysics; the ''reaction methods'' for chronometry in the psychology of apperception; the ''reproduction methods'' in research on memory, and the ''expression methods'' with observations and psychophysiological measurement in research on feelings. Wundt considered the methodology of his linguistic psychological investigations (Vols. 1 and 2 of Völkerpsychologie) to be the most fruitful path to adequate psychological research on the thought process. The principles of his cultural psychological methodology were only worked out later. These involved the analytical and comparative observation of objective existing materials, i.e. historical writings, language, works, art, reports and observations of human behaviour in earlier cultures and, more rarely, direct ethnological source material. Wundt differentiated between two objectives of comparative methodology: individual comparison collected all the important features of the overall picture of an observation material, while generic comparison formed a picture of variations to obtain a typology. Rules of generic comparison and critical interpretation are essentially explained in his Logik: "We therefore generally describe the epitome of the methods as interpretation that is intended to provide us with an understanding of mental processes and intellectual creation." Wundt clearly referred to the tradition of humanistic
hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate ...
, but argued that the interpretation process basically also followed psychological principles. Interpretation only became the characteristic process of the humanities through criticism. It is a process that is set against interpretation to dismantle the interaction produced through psychological analysis. It examines external or internal contradictions, it should evaluate the reality of intellectual products, and is also a criticism of values and a criticism of opinions. The typical misconceptions of the intellectualistic, individualistic and unhistorical interpretation of intellectual processes all have "their source in the habitually coarse psychology based on subjective assessment."


Principles of mental causality

What is meant by these principles is ''the simple prerequisites of the linking of psychological facts that cannot be further extrapolated''. The system of principles has several repeatedly reworked versions, with corresponding laws of development for cultural psychology (Wundt, 1874, 1894, 1897, 1902–1903, 1920, 1921). Wundt mainly differentiated between four principles and explained them with examples that originate from the physiology of perception, the psychology of meaning, from apperception research, emotion and motivation theory, and from cultural psychology and ethics. #''The Principle of
creative synthesis The principle of creative synthesis was first mentioned by Wilhelm Wundt in 1862.''An Introduction to the History of Psychology'', Sixth Edition, Wadsworth, California, 2009, p. 268''Wilhelm Wundt in History: The Making of a Scientific Psychology'' ...
or creative results'' (the emergence principle). "Every perception can be broken down into elemental impressions. But it is never just the sum of these impressions, but from the linkage of them that a new one is created with individual features that were not contained in the impressions themselves. We thus put together the mental picture of a spatial form from a multitude of impressions of light. This principle proves itself in all mental causality linkages and accompanies mental development from its first to its consummate stage." Wundt formulated this creative synthesis, which today would also be described as the principle of emergence in system theory, as an essential epistemological principle of empirical psychology – long before the phrase ''the whole is more than the sum of its parts'' or supra-summation was used in
gestalt psychology Gestalt-psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt's and Edward ...
. #''The Principle of relational analysis'' (context principle). This principle says that "every individual mental content receives its meaning through the relationships in which it stands to other mental content." #''The Principle of mental contrasts or reinforcement of opposites or development in dichotomies.'' Typical contrast effects are to be seen in sensory perceptions, in the course of emotions and in volitional processes. There is a general tendency to order the subjective world according to opposites. Thus many individual, historical, economic and social processes exhibit highly contrasting developments. #''The Principle of the heterogony of purpose (ends).'' The consequences of an action extend beyond the original intended purpose and give rise to new motives with new effects. The intended purpose always induces
side-effects In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequence ...
and knock-on effects that themselves become purposes, i.e. an ever-growing organisation through self-creation. In addition to these four principles, Wundt explained the term of intellectual community and other categories and principles that have an important relational and insightful function. Wundt demands co-ordinated analysis of causal and teleological aspects; he called for a methodologically versatile psychology and did not demand that any decision be made between experimental-statistical methods and interpretative methods ( qualitative methods). Whenever appropriate, he referred to findings from interpretation and experimental research within a multimethod approach. Thus, for example, the chapters on the development of language or on enlargement of fantasy activity in cultural psychology also contain experimental, statistical and psychophysiological findings. He was very familiar with these methods and used them in extended research projects. This was without precedent and has, since then, rarely been achieved by another individual researcher.


Philosophy


Wundt's philosophical orientation

In the introduction to his ''Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie'' in 1874, Wundt described
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
and
Johann Friedrich Herbart Johann Friedrich Herbart (; 4 May 1776 – 14 August 1841) was a German philosopher, psychologist and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline. Herbart is now remembered amongst the post-Kantian philosophers mostly as making the greatest ...
as the philosophers who had the most influence on the formation of his own views. Those who follow up these references will find that Wundt critically analysed both these thinkers' ideas. He distanced himself from Herbart's science of the soul and, in particular, from his "mechanism of mental representations" and pseudo-mathematical speculations. While Wundt praised Kant's critical work and his rejection of a "rational" psychology deduced from metaphysics, he argued against Kant's epistemology in his publication ''Was soll uns Kant nicht sein?'' (What Kant should we reject?) 1892 with regard to the forms of perception and presuppositions, as well as Kant's category theory and his position in the dispute on causal and teleological explanations.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...
had a far greater and more constructive influence on Wundt's psychology, philosophy, epistemology and ethics. This can be gleaned from Wundt's Leibniz publication (1917) and from his central terms and principles, but has since received almost no attention. Wundt gave up his plans for a biography of Leibniz, but praised Leibniz's thinking on the two-hundredth anniversary of his death in 1916. He did, however, disagree with Leibniz's
monadology The ''Monadology'' (french: La Monadologie, 1714) is one of Gottfried Leibniz's best known works of his later philosophy. It is a short text which presents, in some 90 paragraphs, a metaphysics of simple substances, or '' monads''. Text Dur ...
as well as theories on the mathematisation of the world by removing the domain of the mind from this view. Leibniz developed a new concept of the soul through his discussion on substance and
actuality In philosophy, potentiality and actuality are a pair of closely connected principles which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his ''Physics'', ''Metaphysics'', '' Nicomachean Ethics'', and ''De Anima''. Th ...
, on dynamic spiritual change, and on the correspondence between body and soul ( parallelism). Wundt ''secularised'' such guiding principles and reformulated important philosophical positions of Leibniz away from belief in God as the creator and belief in an immortal soul. Wundt gained important ideas and exploited them in an original way in his principles and methodology of empirical psychology: the principle of actuality, psychophysical parallelism, combination of causal and teleological analysis, apperception theory, the psychology of ''striving'', i.e. volition and voluntary tendency, principles of epistemology and the perspectivism of thought. Wundt's differentiation between the "natural causality" of neurophysiology and the "mental causality" of psychology (the intellect), is a direct rendering from Leibniz's epistemology. Wundt devised the term
psychophysical parallelism In the philosophy of mind, psychophysical parallelism (or simply parallelism) is the theory that mental and bodily events are perfectly coordinated, without any causal interaction between them. As such, it affirms the correlation of mental and bod ...
and meant thereby two fundamentally different ways of considering the postulated psychophysical unit, not just two views in the sense of Fechner's theory of identity. Wundt derived the co-ordinated consideration of natural causality and mental causality from Leibniz's differentiation between causality and teleology (
principle of sufficient reason The principle of sufficient reason states that everything must have a reason or a cause. The principle was articulated and made prominent by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, with many antecedents, and was further used and developed by Arthur Schopenhau ...
). The psychological and physiological statements exist in two categorically different
reference system In physics and astronomy, a frame of reference (or reference frame) is an abstract coordinate system whose origin, orientation, and scale are specified by a set of reference points― geometric points whose position is identified both mathem ...
s; the main categories are to be emphasised in order to prevent
category mistake A category mistake, or category error, or categorical mistake, or mistake of category, is a semantic or ontological error in which things belonging to a particular category are presented as if they belong to a different category, or, alternativ ...
s. With his epistemology of mental causality, he differed from contemporary authors who also advocated the position of parallelism. Wundt had developed the first genuine epistemology and methodology of empirical psychology. Wundt shaped the term apperception, introduced by Leibniz, into an experimental psychologically based apperception psychology that included neuropsychological modelling. When Leibniz differentiates between two fundamental functions, perception and striving, this approach can be recognised in Wundt's motivation theory. The central theme of "unity in the manifold" (unitas in multitudine) also originates from Leibniz, who has influenced the current understanding of perspectivism and viewpoint dependency. Wundt characterised this style of thought in a way that also applied for him: "…the principle of the equality of viewpoints that supplement one another" plays a significant role in his thinking – viewpoints that "supplement one another, while also being able to appear as opposites that only resolve themselves when considered more deeply." Unlike the great majority of contemporary and current authors in psychology, Wundt laid out the philosophical and methodological positions of his work clearly. Wundt was against the founding empirical psychology on a (metaphysical or structural) principle of soul as in Christian belief in an
immortal soul Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is “sleeping” after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the in ...
or in a philosophy that argues "substance"-
ontologically In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
. Wundt's position was decisively rejected by several Christianity-oriented psychologists and philosophers as a ''psychology without soul'', although he did not use this formulation from Friedrich Lange (1866), who was his predecessor in Zürich from 1870 to 1872. Wundt's guiding principle was the development theory of the mind. Wundt's ethics also led to polemical critiques due to his renunciation of an ultimate transcendental basis of ethics (God, the Absolute). Wundt's
evolutionism Evolutionism is a term used (often derogatorily) to denote the theory of evolution. Its exact meaning has changed over time as the study of evolution has progressed. In the 19th century, it was used to describe the belief that organisms deliberate ...
was also criticised for its claim that ethical norms had been culturally changed in the course of human intellectual development. Wundt's autobiography and his inaugural lectures in Zurich and Leipzig as well as his commemorative speeches for Fechner and his Essay on Leibniz provide an insight into the history of Wundt's education and the contemporary flows and intellectual controversies in the second half of the 19th century. Wundt primarily refers to Leibniz and Kant, more indirectly to Johann Gottlieb Fichte,
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
,
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ...
and
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
; and to
Johann Friedrich Herbart Johann Friedrich Herbart (; 4 May 1776 – 14 August 1841) was a German philosopher, psychologist and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline. Herbart is now remembered amongst the post-Kantian philosophers mostly as making the greatest ...
,
Gustav Theodor Fechner Gustav Theodor Fechner (; ; 19 April 1801 – 18 November 1887) was a German physicist, philosopher, and experimental psychologist. A pioneer in experimental psychology and founder of psychophysics (techniques for measuring the mind), he inspired ...
and
Hermann Lotze Rudolf Hermann Lotze (; ; 21 May 1817 – 1 July 1881) was a German philosopher and logician. He also had a medical degree and was well versed in biology. He argued that if the physical world is governed by mechanical laws and relations, then de ...
regarding psychology. In addition to
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
, George Berkeley,
David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...
and
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
, one finds
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
,
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
and Charles Spencer, as well as French thinkers such as
Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...
and
Hippolyte Taine Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (, 21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practition ...
, all of whom are more rarely quoted by Wundt.


Metaphysics

Wundt distanced himself from the metaphysical term soul and from theories about its structure and properties, as posited by Herbart, Lotze and Fechner. Wundt followed Kant and warned against a primarily metaphysically founded, philosophically deduced psychology: "where one notices the author's metaphysical point-of-view in the treatment of every problem then an unconditional empirical science is no longer involved – but a metaphysical theory intended to serve as an exemplification of experience." He is, however, convinced that every single science contains general prerequisites of a philosophical nature. "All psychological investigation extrapolates from metaphysical presuppositions." Epistemology was to help sciences find out about, clarify or supplement their metaphysical aspects and as far as possible free themselves of them. Psychology and the other sciences always rely on the help of philosophy here, and particularly on logic and epistemology, otherwise only an immanent philosophy, i.e. metaphysical assumptions of an unsystematic nature, would form in the individual sciences. Wundt is decidedly against the segregation of philosophy. He is concerned about psychologists bringing their own personal metaphysical convictions into psychology and that these presumptions would no longer be exposed to epistemological criticism. "Therefore nobody would suffer more from such a segregation than the psychologists themselves and, through them, psychology." "Nothing would promote the degeneration f psychologyto a mere craftsmanship more than its segregation from philosophy."


System of philosophy

Wundt claimed that philosophy as a general science has the task of "uniting to become a consistent system through the general knowledge acquired via the individual sciences." Human rationality strives for a uniform, i.e. non-contradictory, explanatory principle for being and consciousness, for an ultimate reasoning for ethics, and for a philosophical world basis. "Metaphysics is the same attempt to gain a binding world view, as a component of individual knowledge, on the basis of the entire scientific awareness of an age or particularly prominent content." Wundt was convinced that empirical psychology also contributed fundamental knowledge on the understanding of humans – for anthropology and ethics – beyond its narrow scientific field. Starting from the active and creative-synthetic apperception processes of consciousness, Wundt considered that the unifying function was to be found in volitional processes and the conscious setting of objectives and subsequent activities. "There is simply nothing more to a man that he can entirely call his own – except for his will." One can detect a "voluntaristic tendency" in Wundt's theory of motivation, in contrast to the currently widespread cognitivism (
intellectualism Intellectualism is the mental perspective that emphasizes the use, the development, and the exercise of the intellect; and also identifies the life of the mind of the intellectual person. (Definition) In the field of philosophy, the term ''inte ...
). Wundt extrapolated this empirically founded volitional psychology to a
metaphysical voluntarism Voluntarism is "any metaphysical or psychological system that assigns to the will (Latin: ''voluntas'') a more predominant role than that attributed to the intellect",entelechy In philosophy, potentiality and actuality are a pair of closely connected principles which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his ''Physics'', ''Metaphysics'', ''Nicomachean Ethics'', and ''De Anima''. The c ...
,
vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...
,
animism Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—Animal, animals, Plant, plants, Ro ...
, and by no means Schopenhauer's volitional metaphysics. He believed that the source of dynamic development was to be found in the most elementary expressions of life, in reflexive and instinctive behaviour, and constructed a continuum of attentive and apperceptive processes, volitional or selective acts, up to social activities and ethical decisions. At the end of this rational idea he recognised a practical ideal: the idea of humanity as the highest yardstick of our actions and that the overall course of human history can be understood with regard to the ideal of humanity.


Ethics

Parallel to Wundt's work on cultural psychology he wrote his much-read ''Ethik'' (1886, 3rd ed. in 2 Vols., 1903), whose introduction stressed how important development considerations are in order to grasp religion, customs and
morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...
. Wundt considered the questions of ethics to be closely linked with the empirical psychology of motivated acts "Psychology has been such an important introduction for me, and such an indispensable aid for the investigation of ethics, that I do not understand how one could do without it." Wundt sees two paths: the anthropological examination of the facts of a moral life (in the sense of cultural psychology) and the scientific reflection on the concepts of morals. The derived principles are to be examined in a variety of areas: the family, society, the state, education, etc. In his discussion on
free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...
(as an attempt to mediate between determinism and
indeterminism Indeterminism is the idea that events (or certain events, or events of certain types) are not caused, or do not cause deterministically. It is the opposite of determinism and related to chance. It is highly relevant to the philosophical prob ...
) he categorically distinguishes between two perspectives: there is indeed a natural causality of brain processes, though conscious processes are not determined by an intelligible, but by the empirical character of humans – volitional acts are subject to the principles of mental causality. "When a man only follows inner causality he acts freely in an ethical sense, which is partly determined by his original disposition and partly by the development of his character." On the one hand, Ethics is a normative discipline while, on the other hand, these 'rules' change, as can be seen from the empirical examination of culture-related
morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...
. Wundt's ethics can, put simply, be interpreted as an attempt to mediate between Kant's apriorism and
empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
. Moral rules are the legislative results of a universal intellectual development, but are neither rigidly defined nor do they simply follow changing life conditions.
Individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...
and
utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charact ...
are strictly rejected. In his view, only the universal intellectual life can be considered to be an
end in itself In moral philosophy, instrumental and intrinsic value are the distinction between what is a ''means to an end'' and what is as an ''end in itself''. Things are deemed to have instrumental value if they help one achieve a particular end; intrinsic ...
. Wundt also spoke on the idea of humanity in ethics, on human rights and human duties in his speech as Rector of Leipzig University in 1889 on the centenary of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
.


Logic, epistemology and the scientific theory of psychology

Wundt divided up his three-volume ''Logik'' into General logic and epistemology, Logic of the exact sciences, and Logic of the humanities. While logic, the doctrine of categories, and other principles were discussed by Wundt in a traditional manner, they were also considered from the point of view of development theory of the human intellect, i.e. in accordance with the psychology of thought. The subsequent equitable description of the special principles of the natural sciences and the humanities enabled Wundt to create a new epistemology. The ideas that remain current include epistemology and the methodology of psychology: the tasks and directions of psychology, the methods of interpretation and comparison, as well as psychological experimentation.


Complete works and legacy


Publications, libraries and letters

The list of works at the
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte) is a scientific research institute founded in March 1994. It is dedicated to addressing fundamental questions of the history of knowledg ...
includes a total of 589 German and foreign-language editions for the period from 1853 to 1950 MPI für Wissenschaftsgeschichte: ''Werkverzeichnis Wilhelm Wundt''.The American psychologist Edwin Boring counted 494 publications by Wundt (excluding pure reprints but with revised editions) that are, on average, 110 pages long and amount to a total of 53,735 pages. Thus Wundt published an average of seven works per year over a period of 68 years and wrote or revised an average of 2.2 pages per day. There is as yet no annotated edition of the essential writings, nor does a complete edition of Wundt's major works exist, apart from more-or-less suitable scans or digitalisations. Apart from his library and his correspondence, Wundt's extraordinarily extensive written inheritance also includes many extracts, manuscripts, lecture notes and other materials Wundt's written inheritance in Leipzig consists of 5,576 documents, mainly letters, and was digitalised by the Leipzig University Library. The catalogue is available at the ''Kalliope online portal''. One-third of Wundt's own library was left to his children Eleonore and Max Wundt; most of the works were sold during the times of need after the First World War to
Tohoku University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated National ...
in Sendai, Japan. The university's stock consists of 6,762 volumes in western languages (including bound periodicals) as well as 9,098 special print runs and brochures from the original Wundt Library. The list in the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science only mentions 575 of these entries. Tübingen University Archive's stock includes copies of 613 letters, Wundt's will, lists from Wundt's original library, and other materials and 'Wundtiana': The
German Historical Museum The German Historical Museum (german: Deutsches Historisches Museum), known by the acronym DHM, is a museum in Berlin, Germany devoted to German history. It describes itself as a place of "enlightenment and understanding of the shared history ...
in Berlin has a 1918 shellac disk on which Wundt repeats the closing words of his inaugural lecture (given in Zürich on 31 October 1874 and re-read in 1918 for documentation purposes): "On the task of philosophy in the present"


Biographies

The last Wundt biography which tried to represent both Wundt's psychology and his philosophy was by Eisler (1902). One can also get an idea of Wundt's thoughts from his autobiography ''Erlebtes und Erkanntes'' (1920). Later biographies by Nef (1923) and Petersen (1925) up to Arnold in 1980 restrict themselves primarily to the psychology ''or'' the philosophy. Eleonore Wundt's (1928) knowledgeable but short biography of her father exceeds many others' efforts.


Political attitude

At the start of the First World War, Wundt, like
Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...
and
Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
, signed the patriotic call to arms as did about 4,000 professors and lecturers in Germany, and during the following years he wrote several political speeches and essays that were also characterized by the feeling of a superiority of German science and culture. During Wundt's early Heidelberg time he espoused liberal views. He co-founded the Association of German Workers' Associations. He was a member of the liberal Progressive Party of Baden. From 1866 to 1869 he represented Heidelberg in the Baden States Assembly. In old age Wundt appeared to become more conservative (see Wundt, 1920; Wundt's correspondence), then – also in response to World War I, the subsequent social unrest and the severe revolutionary events of the post-war period – adopted an attitude that was patriotic and lent towards nationalism. Wilhelm Wundt's son, philosopher Max Wundt, had an even more clearly intense, somewhat nationalist, stance. Although not a member of the
Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
(NSDAP), Max Wundt wrote about national traditions and race in philosophical thinking.


Wundt Societies

Four ''Wilhelm Wundt Societies'' or Associations have been founded: * 1925 to 1968: ''Wilhelm Wundt Stiftung und Verband Freunde des Psychologischen Instituts der Universität Leipzig'', founded by former assistants and friends of Wundts. * 1979:
Wilhelm Wundt Gesellschaft
' (based in Heidelberg), "a scientific association with a limited number of members set up with the aim of promoting fundamental psychological research and further developing it through its efforts." * 1992 to 1996: ''Wundt-Stiftung e.V. und Förderverein Wundt-Stiftung e.V.'' (based in Bonn/Leipzig). * 2016: ''Förderverein Wilhelm-Wundt-Haus in Grossbothen.''. The purpose of the association is "the maintenance and restoration of the Wundt home in keeping with its listed building status, as well as its appropriate use". The association was founded on the initiative of Jüttemann (2014). The ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie'' German Society for Psychology grants a Wilhelm-Wundt Medal.


Reception of Wundt's work


Reception by his contemporaries

The psychiatrist
Emil Kraepelin Emil Wilhelm Georg Magnus Kraepelin (; ; 15 February 1856 – 7 October 1926) was a German psychiatrist. H. J. Eysenck's ''Encyclopedia of Psychology'' identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and psych ...
described the pioneering spirit at the new Leipzig Institute in this fashion: "We felt that we were trailblazers entering virgin territory, like creators of a science with undreamt-of prospects. Wundt spent several afternoons every week in his adjacent modest Professorial office, came to see us, advised us and often got involved in the experiments; he was also available to us at any time." The philosopher Rudolf Eisler considered Wundt's approach as follows: "A major advantage of Wundt's philosophy is that it neither consciously nor unconsciously takes metaphysics back to its beginnings, but strictly distinguishes between empirical-scientific and epistemological-metaphysical approaches, and considers each point-of-view in isolation in its relative legitimacy before finally producing a uniform world view. Wundt always differentiates between the physical-physiological and the purely psychological, and then again from the philosophical point-of-view. As a result, apparent 'contradictions' are created for those who do not observe more precisely and who constantly forget that the differences in results are only due to the approach and not the laws of reality ..." Traugott Oesterreich (1923/1951) wrote an unusually detailed description of Wundt's work in his Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie (Foundations of the History of Philosophy). This knowledgeable representation examines Wundt's main topics, views and scientific activities and exceeds the generally much briefer Wundt reception within the field of psychology, in which many of the important prerequisites and references are ignored right from the start. The internal consistency of Wundt's work from 1862 to 1920, between the main works and within the reworked editions, has repeatedly been discussed and been subject to differing assessments in parts. One could not say that the scientific conception of psychology underwent a fundamental revision of principal ideas and central postulates, though there was gradual development and a change in emphasis. One could consider Wundt's gradual concurrence with Kant's position, that conscious processes are not measurable on the basis of self-observation and cannot be mathematically formulated, to be a major divergence. Wundt, however, never claimed that psychology could be advanced through experiment and measurement alone, but had already stressed in 1862 that the development history of the mind and comparative psychology should provide some assistance. Wundt attempted to redefine and restructure the fields of psychology and philosophy. "Experimental psychology in the narrower sense and child psychology form individual psychology, while cultural and animal psychology are both parts of a general and comparative psychology"). None of his Leipzig assistants and hardly any textbook authors in the subsequent two generations have adopted Wundt's broad theoretical horizon, his demanding scientific theory or the multi-method approach.
Oswald Külpe Oswald Külpe (; 3 August 1862 – 30 December 1915) was a German structural psychologist of the late 19th and early 20th century. Külpe, who is lesser known than his German mentor, Wilhelm Wundt, revolutionized experimental psychology at his t ...
had already ruled cultural and animal psychology out. While the ''Principles of physiological Psychology'' met with worldwide resonance, Wundt's cultural psychology (ethno-psychology) appeared to have had a less widespread impact. But there are indications that
George Herbert Mead George Herbert Mead (February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist, primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago, where he was one of several distinguished pragmatists. He is regarded a ...
and
Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...
, among others, were influenced by it. In his
Totem and Taboo ''Totem and Taboo: Resemblances Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics'', or ''Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics'', (german: Totem und Tabu: Einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenl ...
,
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
frequently quoted Wundt's cultural psychology. In its time, Wundt's Ethik received more reviews than almost any of his other main works. Most of the objections were ranged against his renouncing any ultimate transcendental ethical basis (God, the Absolute), as well as against his ideas regarding evolution, i.e. that ethical standards changed culturally in the course of human intellectual development. As Wundt did not describe any concrete ethical conflicts on the basis of examples and did not describe any social ethics in particular, his teachings with the general idea of humanism appear rather too abstract. The ''XXII International Congress for Psychology in Leipzig in 1980'', i.e. on the hundredth jubilee of the initial founding of the Institute in 1879, stimulated a number of publications about Wundt, also in the US Very little productive research work has been carried out since then. While Wundt was occasionally mentioned in the centenary review of the founding of the ''German Society for Experimental Psychology'' 1904/2004, it was without the principal ideas of his psychology and philosophy of science.


Research on reception of his work

Leipzig was a world-famous centre for the new psychology after 1874. There are various interpretations regarding why Wundt's influence after the turn of the century, i.e. during his lifetime, rapidly waned and from his position as founding father Wundt became almost an outsider. A survey was conducted on the basis of more than 200 contemporary and later sources: reviews and critiques of his publications (since 1858), references to Wundt's work in textbooks on psychology and the history of psychology (from 1883 to 2010), biographies, congress reports, praise on his decadal birthdays, obituaries and other texts. A range of scientific controversies were presented in detail. Reasons for the distancing of Wundt and why some of his concepts have fallen into oblivion can be seen in his scientific work, in his philosophical orientation, in his didactics or in the person of Wundt himself: *Possibly the most important reason for Wundt's relatively low influence might lie in his highly ambitious epistemologically founded conception of psychology, in his theory of science and in the level of difficulty involved in his wide-ranging methodology. * Most psychologies in the subsequent generation appear to have a considerably simpler, less demanding, philosophical point-of-view instead of coordinated causal and teleological considerations embedded in multiple reference systems that consequently also demanded a multi-method approach. Thus instead of perspectivism and a change in perspective an apparently straightforward approach is preferred, i.e. research oriented upon either the natural sciences or the humanities. * Wundt's assistants and colleagues, many of whom were also personally close, did not take on the role of students and certainly not the role of interpreters. Oswald Külpe, Ernst Meumann, Hugo Münsterberg or Felix Krueger did not want to, or could not, adequately reference Wundt's comprehensive scientific conception of psychology in their books, for example they almost entirely ignored Wundt's categories and epistemological principles, his strategies in comparison and interpretation, the discussions regarding Kant's in-depth criticism of methodology, and Wundt's neuropsychology. Nobody in this circle developed a creative continuation of Wundt's concepts. Krueger's inner distance to a scientific concept and the entire work of his predecessor cannot be overlooked. * Through his definition of "soul" as an actual process, Wundt gave up the metaphysical idea of a "substantial carrier"; his psychology without a soul was heavily criticized by several contemporary and later psychologists and philosophers. * Wundt exposed himself to criticism with his theoretical and experimental psychologically differentiated apperception psychology as opposed to elemental association psychology, and with his comprehensive research programme on a development theory of the human intellect, now seen as an interdisciplinary or trans-disciplinary project.


Misunderstandings of basic terms and principles

Wundt's terminology also created difficulties because he had – from today's point-of-view – given some of his most important ideas unfortunate names so that there were constant misunderstandings. Examples include:
* ''physiological psychology'' – specifically not a scientific physiological psychology, because by writing the adjective with a small letter Wundt wanted to avoid this misunderstanding that still exists today; for him it was the use of physiological aids in experimental general psychology that mattered. * ''Self-observation'' – not naive introspection, but with training and experimental control of conditions. * ''Experiment'' – this was meant with reference to Francis Bacon – general, i.e. far beyond the scientific rules of the empirical sciences, so not necessarily a statistically evaluated laboratory experiment. For Wundt psychological experimentation primarily served as a check of trained self-observation. * ''Element'' – not in the sense of the smallest structure, but as a smallest unit of the intended level under consideration, so that, for example, even the central nervous system could be an "element". * ''Völkerpsychologie'' – cultural psychology – not ethnology. * ''Apperception'' – not just an increase in attention, but a central and multimodal synthesis. * ''Voluntaristic tendency, voluntarism'' – not an absolute metaphysical postulate, but a primary empirically-psychologically based accentuation of motivated action against the intellectualism and cognitivism of other psychologists. A representation of Wundt's psychology as 'natural science', 'element psychology' or 'dualistic' conceptions is evidence of enduring misunderstandings. It is therefore necessary to remember Wundt's expressly stated desire for uniformity and lack of contradiction, for the mutual supplementation of psychological perspectives. Wundt's more demanding, sometimes more complicated and relativizing, then again very precise style can also be difficult – even for today's German readers; a high level of linguistic competence is required. There are only English translations for very few of Wundt's work. In particular, the ''Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie'' expanded into three volumes and the ten volumes of Völkerpsychologie, all the books on philosophy and important essays on the theory of science remain untranslated. Such shortcomings may explain many of the fundamental deficits and lasting misunderstandings in the Anglo-American reception of Wundt's work. Massive misconceptions about Wundt's work have been demonstrated by William James, Granville Stanley Hall, Edward Boring and Edward Titchener as well as among many later authors. Titchener, a two-year resident of Wundt's lab and one of Wundt's most vocal advocates in the United States, is responsible for several English translations and mistranslations of Wundt's works that supported his own views and approach, which he termed "structuralism" and claimed was wholly consistent with Wundt's position.
As Wundt's three-volume Logik und Wissenschaftslehre, i.e. his theory of science, also remains untranslated the close interrelationships between Wundt's empirical psychology and his epistemology and methodology, philosophy and ethics are also regularly missing, even if later collections describe individual facets of them. Blumenthal's assessmentArthur L. Blumenthal: Wilhelm Wundt – Problems of interpretation. In: W.G. Bringmann, E.D. Tweney. (Eds.). Wundt Studies. A Centennial Collection. Hogrefe, Toronto 1980, pp. 435–445. that "American textbook accounts of Wundt now present highly inaccurate and mythological caricatures of the man and his work" still appears to be true of most publications about Wundt. A highly contradictory picture emerges from any systematic research on his reception. On the one hand, the pioneer of experimental psychology and founder of modern psychology as a discipline is praised, on the other hand, his work is insufficiently tapped and appears to have had little influence. Misunderstandings and stereotypical evaluations continue into the present, even in some representations of the history of psychology and in textbooks. Wundt's entire work is investigated in a more focused manner in more recent assessments regarding the reception of Wundt, and his theory of science and his philosophy is included (Araujo, 2016; Danziger, 1983, 1990, 2001; Fahrenberg, 2011, 2015, 2016; Jüttemann, 2006; Kim, 2016; van Rappard, 1980).


Scientific controversies and criticisms

Like other important psychologists and philosophers, Wundt was subject to ideological criticism, for example by authors of a more Christianity-based psychology, by authors with materialistic and
positivistic Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...
scientific opinions, or from the point-of-view of Marxist-Leninist philosophy and social theory, as in Leipzig,
German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
, up to 1990. Wundt was involved in a number of scientific controversies or was responsible for triggering them: * the Wundt-Zeller controversy about the measurability of awareness processes, * the Wundt-Meumann controversy about the necessary scope of the scientific principles of applied psychology, * the Wundt-Bühler controversy about the methodology of the psychology of thought, * the controversy about the psychology of elemental (passive-mechanic) association and integrative (self-active) apperception, * the controversy about
empirio-criticism Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach ( , ; 18 February 1838 – 19 February 1916) was a Moravian-born Austrian physicist and philosopher, who contributed to the physics of shock waves. The ratio of one's speed to that of sound is named the Mach n ...
,
positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...
and critical realism, and * the controversy about
psychologism Psychologism is a family of philosophical positions, according to which certain psychological facts, laws, or entities play a central role in grounding or explaining certain non-psychological facts, laws, or entities. The word was coined by Johan ...
. There are many forms of criticism of Wundt's psychology, of his apperception psychology, of his motivation theory, of his version of psychophysical parallelism with its concept of "mental causality", his refutation of psychoanalytic speculation about the unconscious, or of his critical realism. A recurring criticism is that Wundt largely ignored the areas of psychology that he found less interesting, such as differential psychology, child psychology and educational psychology. In his cultural psychology there is no empirical social psychology because there were still no methods for investigating it at the time. Among his postgraduate students, assistants and other colleagues, however, were several important pioneers: differential psychology, "mental measurement" and intelligence testing (James McKeen Cattell, Charles Spearman), social psychology of group pocesses and the psychology of work (Walther Moede), applied psychology (Ernst Meumann, Hugo Münsterberg), psychopathology, psychopharmacology and clinical diagnosis (Emil Kraepelin). Wundt further influenced many American psychologists to create psychology graduate programs.


Wundt's excellence

Wundt developed the first comprehensive and uniform theory of the science of psychology. The special epistemological and methodological status of psychology is postulated in this wide-ranging conceptualization, characterized by his neurophysiological, psychological and philosophical work. The human as a thinking and motivated subject is not to be captured in the terms of the natural sciences. Psychology requires special categories and autonomous epistemological principles. It is, on the one hand, an empirical humanity but should not, on the other hand, ignore its physiological basis and philosophical assumptions. Thus a varied, multi-method approach is necessary: self-observation, experimentation, generic comparison and interpretation. Wundt demanded the ability and readiness to distinguish between perspectives and reference systems, and to understand the necessary supplementation of these reference systems in changes of perspective. He defined the field of psychology very widely and as interdisciplinary, and also explained just how indispensable is the epistemological-philosophical criticism of psychological theories and their philosophical prerequisites. Psychology should remain connected with philosophy in order to promote this critique of knowledge of the metaphysical presuppositions so widespread among psychologists. The conceptual relationships within the complete works created over decades and continuously reworked have hardly been systematically investigated. The most important theoretical basis is the empirical-psychological theory of apperception, based on Leibniz's philosophical position, that Wundt, on the one hand, based on experimental psychology and his neuropsychological modelling and, on the other hand, extrapolated into a development theory for culture. The fundamental reconstruction of Wundt's main ideas is a task that cannot be achieved by any one person today due to the complexity of the complete works. He tried to connect the fundamental controversies of the research directions epistemologically and methodologically by means of a co-ordinated concept – in a confident handling of the categorically basically different ways of considering the interrelations. Here, during the founding phase of university psychology, he already argued for a highly demanding meta-science meta-scientific reflection – and this potential to stimulate
interdisciplinarity Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...
und perspectivism (complementary approaches) has by no means been exhausted.


Selected works


Books and articles

* Lehre von der Muskelbewegung (The Patterns of Muscular Movement), (Vieweg, Braunschweig 1858). * Die Geschwindigkeit des Gedankens (The Velocity of Thought), (Die Gartenlaube 1862, Vol 17, p. 263). * Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung (Contributions on the Theory of Sensory Perception), (Winter, Leipzig 1862). * Vorlesungen über die Menschen- und Tierseele (Lectures about Human and Animal Psychology), (Voss, Leipzig Part 1 and 2, 1863/1864; 4th revised ed. 1906). * Lehrbuch der Physiologie des Menschen (Textbook of Human Physiology), (Enke, Erlangen 1864/1865, 4th ed. 1878). * Die physikalischen Axiome und ihre Beziehung zum Causalprincip (Physical Axioms and their Bearing upon Causality Principles), (Enke, Erlangen 1866). * Handbuch der medicinischen Physik (Handbook of Medical Physics), (Enke, Erlangen 1867). (Digitalisat und Volltext im Deutschen Textarchiv) * Untersuchungen zur Mechanik der Nerven und Nervenzentren (Investigations upon the Mechanisms of Nerves and Nerve-Centres), (Enke, Erlangen 1871–1876). * Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (Principles of physiological Psychology), (Engelmann, Leipzig 1874; 5th ed. 1902–1903; 6th ed. 1908–1911, 3 Vols). * Über die Aufgabe der Philosophie in der Gegenwart. Rede gehalten zum Antritt des öffentlichen Lehramts der Philosophie an der Hochschule in Zürich am 31. Oktober 1874. (On the Task of Philosophy in the present), (Philosophische Monatshefte. 1874, Vol 11, pp. 65–68). * Über den Einfluss der Philosophie auf die Erfahrungswissenschaften. Akademische Antrittsrede gehalten in Leipzig am 20. November 1875. (On the Impact of Philosophy on the empirical Sciences), (Engelmann, Leipzig 1876). * Der Spiritismus – eine sogenannte wissenschaftliche Frage. (Spiritism – a so-called scientific Issue), (Engelmann: Leipzig 1879). * Logik. Eine Untersuchung der Principien der Erkenntnis und der Methoden Wissenschaftlicher Forschung. (Logic. An investigation into the principles of knowledge and the methods of scientific research), (Enke, Stuttgart 1880–1883; 4th ed. 1919–1921, 3 Vols.). * Ueber die Messung psychischer Vorgänge. (On the measurement of mental events). (Philosophische Studien. 1883, Vol 1, pp. 251–260, pp. 463–471). * Ueber psychologische Methoden. (On psychological Methods). (Philosophische Studien. 1883, Vol 1, pp. 1–38). * Essays (Engelmann, Leipzig 1885). * Ethik. Eine Untersuchung der Tatsachen und Gesetze des sittlichen Lebens. (Ethics), (Enke, Stuttgart 1886; 3rd ed. 1903, 2 Vols.). * Über Ziele und Wege der Völkerpsychologie. (On Aims and Methods of Cultural Psychology). (Philosophische Studien. 1888, Vol 4, pp. 1–27). * System der Philosophie (System of Philosophy), (Engelmann, Leipzig 1889: 4th ed. 1919, 2 Vols.). * Grundriss der Psychologie (Outline of Psychology), (Engelmann, Leipzig 1896; 14th ed. 1920). * Über den Zusammenhang der Philosophie mit der Zeitgeschichte. Eine Centenarbetrachtung. (On the Relation between Philosophy and contemporary History). Rede des antretenden Rectors Dr. phil., jur. et med. Wilhelm Wundt. F. Häuser (Hrsg.): Die Leipziger Rektoratsreden 1871–1933. Vol I: Die Jahre 1871–1905 (pp. 479–498). Berlin: (de Gruyter (1889/2009). * Hypnotismus und Suggestion. (Hypnotism and Suggestion). (Engelmann: Leipzig 1892). * Ueber psychische Causalität und das Princip des psycho-physischen Parallelismus. (On mental Causality and the Principle of psycho-physical Parallelism). (Philosophische Studien. 1894, Vol 10, pp. 1–124). * Ueber die Definition der Psychologie (On the Definition of Psychology). (Philosophische Studien. 1896, Vol 12, pp. 9–66). * Über naiven und kritischen Realismus I–III. (On naive and critical Realism). (Philosophische Studien. 1896–1898, Vol 12, pp. 307–408; Vol 13, pp. 1–105, pp. 323–433). * Völkerpsychologie (Cultural Psychology), 10 Volumes, Vol. 1, 2. Die Sprache (Language); Vol. 3. Die Kunst (Art); Vol 4, 5, 6. Mythos und Religion (Myth and Religion); Vol 7, 8. Die Gesellschaft (Society); Vol 9. Das Recht (Right); Vol 10. Kultur und Geschichte (Culture and History). (Engelmann, Leipzig 1900 to 1920; some vol. revised or reprinted, 3rd ed.1919 ff; 4th ed. 1926). * Einleitung in die Philosophie (Introduction to Philosophy), (Engelmann, Leipzig 1909; 8th ed. 1920). * Gustav Theodor Fechner. Rede zur Feier seines hundertjährigen Geburtstags. (Engelmann, Leipzig 1901). * Über empirische und metaphysische Psychologie (On empirical and metaphysical Psychology). (Archiv für die gesamte Psychologie. 1904, Vol 2, pp. 333–361). * Über Ausfrageexperimente und über die Methoden zur Psychologie des Denkens. (Psychologische Studien. 1907, Vol 3, pp. 301–360). * Kritische Nachlese zur Ausfragemethode. (Archiv für die gesamte Psychologie. 1908, Vol 11, pp. 445–459). * Über reine und angewandte Psychologie (On pure and applied Psychology). (Psychologische Studien. 1909, Vol 5, pp. 1–47). * Das Institut für experimentelle Psychologie. In: Festschrift zur Feier des 500 jährigen Bestehens der Universität Leipzig, ed. by Rektor und Senat der Universität Leipzig, 1909, 118–133. (S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1909). * Psychologismus und Logizismus (Psychologism and Logizism). Kleine Schriften. Vol 1 (pp. 511–634). (Engelmann, Leipzig 1910). * Kleine Schriften (Shorter Writings), 3 Volumes, (Engelmann, Leipzig 1910–1911). * Einführung in die Psychologie. (Dürr, Leipzig 1911). * Probleme der Völkerpsychologie (Problems in Cultural Psychology). (Wiegandt, Leipzig 1911). * Elemente der Völkerpsychologie. Grundlinien einer psychologischen Entwicklungsgeschichte der Menschheit. (Elements of Cultural Psychology), (Kröner, Leipzig 1912). * Die Psychologie im Kampf ums Dasein (Psychology's Struggle for Existence). (Kröner, Leipzig 1913). * Reden und Aufsätze. (Addresses and Extracts). (Kröner, Leipzig 1913). * Sinnliche und übersinnliche Welt (The Sensory and Supersensory World), (Kröner, Leipzig 1914). * Über den wahrhaften Krieg (About the Real War), (Kröner, Leipzig 1914). * Die Nationen und ihre Philosophie (Nations and Their Philosophies), (Kröner, Leipzig 1915). * Völkerpsychologie und Entwicklungspsychologie (Cultural Psychology and Developmental Psychology). . (Psychologische Studien. 1916, 10, 189–238). * Leibniz. Zu seinem zweihundertjährigen Todestag. 14. November 1916. (Kröner Verlag, Leipzig 1917). * Die Weltkatastrophe und die deutsche Philosophie . (Keysersche Buchhandlung, Erfurt 1920). * Erlebtes und Erkanntes. (Experience and Realization). (Kröner, Stuttgart 1920). * Kleine Schriften. Vol 3. (Kröner, Stuttgart 1921).


Wundt's works in English

References given by Alan Ki
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt
* 1974 The Language of Gestures. Ed. Blumenthal, A.L. Berlin: De Gruyter * 1973 An Introduction to Psychology. New York: Arno Press * 1969? Outlines of Psychology. 1897. Tr. Judd, C.H. St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press * 191

Tr. Schaub, E.L. London: Allen
''idem''
* 1901 The Principles of Morality and the Departments of the Moral Life. Trans. Washburn, M.F. London: Swan Sonnenschein; New York: Macmillan * 1896 (2nd ed.) Lectures on human and animal psychology. Creighton, J.G., Titchener, E.B., trans. London: Allen. Translation of Wundt, 1863 * 1893 (3rd ed.) Principles of physiological psychology. Titchener, E.B., trans. London: Allen. Translation of Wundt, 1874. ew York, 1904


See also

*
Anti-psychologism In logic, anti-psychologism (also logical objectivism or logical realism) is a theory about the nature of logical truth, that it does not depend upon the contents of human ideas but exists independent of human ideas. Overview The anti-psychologisti ...


References


Sources


Biographies

* Rieber, R. ed., 2013. Wilhelm Wundt and the making of a scientific psychology. Springer Science & Business Media. * Alfred Arnold: Wilhelm Wundt – Sein philosophisches System. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1980. *
Edwin G. Boring Edwin Garrigues (Garry) Boring (23 October 1886 – 1 July 1968) was an American experimental psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Clark University and at Harvard University, who later became one of the first historians of psychology. A ''Rev ...
: A history of experimental psychology (2nd ed.) The Century Company, New York 1950. * Arthur L. Blumenthal: Wundt, Wilhelm. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 25. Charles, New York (1970–1980). * * Rudolf Eisler: W. Wundts Philosophie und Psychologie. In ihren Grundlehren dargestellt. Barth, Leipzig 1902. *
Granville Stanley Hall Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1846 – April 24, 1924) was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on human life span development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psy ...
: Founders of modern psychology. Appleton, New York 1912 (Wilhelm Wundt. Der Begründer der modernen Psychologie. Vorwort von Max Brahn. Meiner, Leipzig 1914). * Alan Kim: "Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt
* Edmund König: Wilhelm Wundt als Psycholog und als Philosoph. Fromman, Stuttgart 1901. * Georg Lamberti: Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (1832–1920). Leben, Werk und Persönlichkeit in Bildern und Texten. Deutscher Psychologen Verlag, Berlin 1995, . * Wolfram Meischner, Erhard Eschler: Wilhelm Wundt. Pahl-Rugenstein, Köln 1979, . * Willi Nef: Die Philosophie Wilhelm Wundts. Meiner, Leipzig 1923. * Traugott K. Oesterreich: (1923/1951). Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie. IV. Die Deutsche Philosophie des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts und der Gegenwart (15. Aufl., 1951, unveränd. Nachdr. der völlig neubearb. 12. Aufl.). Mittler & Sohn, Tübingen 1923, pp. 343–360, 483–485. * Peter Petersen: Wilhelm Wundt und seine Zeit. Frommanns Verlag, Stuttgart 1925. * Lothar Sprung: Wilhelm Wundt – Bedenkenswertes und Bedenkliches aus seinem Lebenswerk. In: Georg Eckardt (Hrsg.): Zur Geschichte der Psychologie. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1979, pp. 73–82. * Eleonore Wundt: Wilhelm Wundt. Deutsches Biographisches Jahrbuch (hrsg. vom Verband der Deutschen Akademien). Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1928. Überleitungsband II, 1917–1920, pp. 626–636.


Contemporary sources

*
Eduard von Hartmann Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, was a German philosopher, independent scholar and author of '' Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869). His notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of al ...
: Die moderne Psychologie. Eine kritische Geschichte der deutschen Psychologie in der zweiten Hälfte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Haacke, Leipzig 1901. * Arthur Hoffmann-Erfurt (Hrsg.): Wilhelm Wundt. Eine Würdigung. (1. Aufl. 1922, 2. verm. Aufl. 1924). Stenger, Erfurt 1924. * Edmund König: W. Wundt. Seine Philosophie und Psychologie. F. Frommann, Stuttgart 1901. * Festschrift. Wilhelm Wundt zum siebzigsten Geburtstage. Überreicht von seinen Schülern. ''1. Theil''. (= Philosophische Studien. 19. Band), Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1902. * Festschrift. Wilhelm Wundt zum siebzigsten Geburtstage. Überreicht von seinen Schülern. ''2. Theil''. (= Philosophische Studien. 20. Band), Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1902. * Woolf Cohen: Knowledge and Reality in the Philosophy of Wilhelm Max Wundt. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 1923. * Otto Klemm: Zur Geschichte des Leipziger Psychologischen Instituts. In: A. Hoffmann-Erfurt (Hrsg.): Wilhelm Wundt. Eine Würdigung. 2. Auflage. Stenger, Erfurt 1924, pp. 93–101. * Felix Krueger: Eröffnung des XIII. Kongresses. Die Lage der Seelenwissenschaft in der deutschen Gegenwart. In: Otto Klemm (Hrsg.): Bericht über den XIII. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Leipzig vom 16.–19. Oktober 1933. Fischer, Jena 1934, pp. 6–36. * Leonore Wundt: Wilhelm Wundts Werke. Ein Verzeichnis seiner sämtlichen Schriften. Beck, München, 1927.


Recent sources

* * Saulo de F. Araujo: Wundt and the Philosophical Foundations of Psychology. A Reappraisal. Springer, New York 2016, . * Arthur L. Blumenthal: Leipzig, Wilhelm Wundt, and psychology's gilded age. In: G.A. Kimble, M. Wertheimer, M. (Eds.). Portraits of pioneers in psychology. Vol. III. American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C. 1998. * * Wolfgang G. Bringmann, N. J. Bringmann, W. D. Balance: Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt 1832 – 1874: The formative years. In: W.G. Bringmann, R. D. Tweney (Eds.). Wundt studies. A centennial Collection. Hogrefe, Toronto 1980, pp. 12–32. * Wolfgang G. Bringmann, Ryan D. Tweney (Eds.): Wundt studies. Hogrefe, Toronto 1980, . * Wolfgang G. Bringmann, N. J. Bringmann, G. A. Ungerer: The establishment of Wundt's laboratory: An archival and documentary study. In: Wolfgang Bringmann, Ryan D. Tweney (Eds.): Wundt Studies. Hogrefe, Toronto 1980, , pp. 123–157. * * Kurt Danziger: On the threshold of the New Psychology: Situating Wundt and James. In: W.G. Bringmann, E. D. Tweney (Eds.). Wundt Studies. A Centennial Collection. Hogrefe, Toronto, 1980, pp. 362–379. * * * Georg Eckardt (Ed.): Völkerpsychologie - Versuch einer Neuentdeckung. Psychologie Verlags Union, Weinheim 1997. * Jochen Fahrenberg: Wilhelm Wundt - Pionier der Psychologie ''und'' Außenseiter? Leitgedanken der Wissenschaftskonzeption und deren Rezeptionsgeschichte. (Wilhelm Wundt – pioneer in psychology ''and'' outsider? Basic concepts and their reception) e-book, 2011. PsyDok ZPI
Wilhelm Wundt — Pionier der Psychologie und Außenseiter? Leitgedanken der Wissenschaftskonzeption und deren Rezeptionsgeschichte
* * Jochen Fahrenberg: Zur Kategorienlehre der Psychologie. Komplementaritätsprinzip. Perspektiven und Perspektiven-Wechsel.(On categories in psychology. Complementarity principle, perspectives, and perspective-taking). Pabst Science Publishers, Lengerich 2013, . PsyDok ZPI
Wilhelm Wundt — Pionier der Psychologie und Außenseiter? Leitgedanken der Wissenschaftskonzeption und deren Rezeptionsgeschichte
* Jochen Fahrenberg: Theoretische Psychologie – Eine Systematik der Kontroversen (Theoretical psychology – A system of controversies). Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers, Lengerich 2015a. . PsyDok ZPI
Theoretische Psychologie – Eine Systematik der Kontroversen
* Jochen Fahrenberg: Wilhelm Wundts Neuropsychologie (Wilhelm Wundt's neuropsychology). D. Emmans & A. Laihinen (Eds.). Comparative Neuropsychology and Brain Imaging: Commemorative publication in honour of Prof. Dr. Ulrike Halsband. LIT-Verlag, Vienna 2015b, . pp. 348–373. * * Jochen Fahrenberg: Wilhelm Wundts Kulturpsychologie (Völkerpsychologie): Eine Psychologische Entwicklungstheorie des Geistes (Wilhelm Wundt's cultural psychology: A psychological theory on the development of mind). (2016b) PsyDo
Wilhelm Wundts Kulturpsychologie (Völkerpsychologie): Eine Psychologische Entwicklungstheorie des Geistes
* Jochen Fahrenberg: Wundt-Nachlass (2016c). PsyDok ZPI
Wilhelm Wundts Nachlass. Eine Übersicht.
* Jochen Fahrenberg: Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). Gesamtwerk: Einführung, Zitate, Rezeption, Kommentare, Rekonstruktionsversuche. Pabst Science Publishers, Lengerich 2018. . PsyDok ZPI
Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). Gesamtwerk: Einführung, Zitate, Kommentare, Rezeption, Rekonstruktionsversuche.
* Jochen Fahrenberg: Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). Introduction, Quotations, Reception, Commentaries, Attempts at Reconstruction. Pabst Science Publishers, Lengerich 2020. . PsyDok ZPI
Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920). Introduction, Quotations, Reception, Commentaries, Attempts at Reconstruction.
* Jochen Fahrenberg: Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920). Eine Centenarbetrachtung (Ein Rückblick auf das Werk von Wilhelm Wundt und dessen Rezeption und Aktualität.)'' https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5580 (PDF; 1,09 MB). 2022. * * Carl F. Graumann: Die Verbindung und Wechselwirkung der Individuen im Gemeinschaftsleben. In: Gerd Jüttemann (Ed.): Wilhelm Wundts anderes Erbe. Ein Missverständnis löst sich auf. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, pp. 52–68. * Hildebrandt, H. (1989). Psychophysischer Parallelismus. In: J. Ritte, K. Gründer (Hrsg.). Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1989, Volume 7, pp. 101–107. * Willem Van Hoorn, T. Verhave: Wilhelm Wundts"s conception of his multiple foundations of scientific psychology. In W. Meischner, A. Metge (Hrsg.). Wilhelm Wundt – progressives Erbe, Wissenschaftsentwicklung und Gegenwart. Protokoll des internationalen Symposiums. Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig, 1979. Pahl-Rugenstein, Köln 1980, pp. 107–117. * Jürgen Jahnke: Wilhelm Wundts akademische Psychologie 1886/87. Die Vorlesungsnachschriften von Albert Thumb Freiburg. In: Jürgen Jahnke, Jochen Fahrenberg, Reiner Stegie, Eberhard Bauer (Hrsg.): Psychologiegeschichte – Beziehungen zu Philosophie und Grenzgebieten. Profil, München 1998, , pp. 151–168. * Gerd Jüttemann (Ed.): Wilhelm Wundts anderes Erbe. Ein Missverständnis löst sich auf. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2006, . * Alan Kim: "Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt
* Friedrich A. Lange: Geschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Gegenwart. (8. erw. Aufl. 1908, hrsg. und bearbeitet von Hermann Cohen). Baedeker, Iserlohn 1866. * Wolfram Meischner, Anneros Metge: Wilhelm Wundt – progressives Erbe, Wissenschaftsentwicklung und Gegenwart. Protokoll des internationalen Symposiums. Karl-Marx-Universität, Leipzig 1979. Pahl-Rugenstein, Köln 1980. * Anneros Meischner-Metge: Wilhelm Wundt und seine Schüler. In: Horst-Peter Brauns (Ed.): Zentenarbetrachtungen. Historische Entwicklungen in der neueren Psychologie bis zum Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. Peter Lang, Frankfurt a.M. 2003, pp. 156–166. * Anneros Meischner-Metge: Die Methode der Forschung. In: G. Jüttemann (Hrsg.): Wilhelm Wundts anderes Erbe. Ein Missverständnis löst sich auf. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, pp. 131–143. * Till Meyer: Das DFG-Projekt "Erschließung und Digitalisierung des Nachlasses von Wilhelm Wundt" an der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig. In: Leipziger Jahrbuch für Buchgeschichte, 2015, Volume 23, pp. 347–357. * * Robert W. Rieber, David K. Robinson (Eds.): Wilhelm Wundt in history: The making of a scientific psychology. Kluwer-Academic, New York 1980 (2nd ed. 2001). * Eckhard Scheerer: Psychologie. In: J. Ritter, K. Gründer (Hrsg.). Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie. Schwabe & Co., Basel 1989, Volume 7 (pp. 1599–1654). * * Gustav A. Ungerer: Forschungen zur Biographie Wilhelm Wundts und zur Regionalgeschichte. Gesammelte Aufsätze 1978–1997. Ein Logbuch. Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2016. * * Maximilian Wontorra: Frühe apparative Psychologie. Der Andere Verlag, Leipzig 2009. * Maximilian Wontorra, Ingrid Kästner, Erich Schröger (Hrsg.): Wilhelm Wundts Briefwechsel. Institut für Psychologie. Leipzig 2011. * Maximilian Wontorra, Anneros Meischner-Metge, Erich Schröger (Hrsg.): Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) und die Anfänge der experimentellen Psychologie. Institut für Psychologie. Leipzig 2004. . *. * Paul Ziche: Wissenschaftslandschaften um 1900: Philosophie, die Wissenschaften und der nichtreduktive Szientismus. Chronos, Zürich 2008.


External links

* * *
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science: Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt.

Biography and bibliography
in the Virtual Laboratory of the
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte) is a scientific research institute founded in March 1994. It is dedicated to addressing fundamental questions of the history of knowledg ...

Wilhelm Wundt Bibliography 589 entries


im Kalliope-Verbund
Universität Leipzig: Wilhelm Wundt


* ttp://www.psychologie.uni-heidelberg.de/willkomm/cfg/instber-1.html#Ib Universität Heidelberg: Wilhelm Wundt und die Institutionalisierung der Psychologie.
Wundt's Lectures at the University of Zürich 1874–1875



Alan Kim: Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt.


Works online


Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie.

Grundriss der Psychologie.

Wilhelm Wundt: Erlebtes und Erkanntes
* *
''Wilhelm Wundt and the making of a scientific psychology''


Earlier translations online

Caution: Earlier translations of Wundt's publications are of a highly questionable reliability.
''Principles of Physiological Psychology''


* ''Ethics: An Investigation of the Facts and Laws of the Moral Life''. Volume 1. (Tr.
Edward B. Titchener Edward Bradford Titchener (11 January 1867 – 3 August 1927) was an English psychologist who studied under Wilhelm Wundt for several years. Titchener is best known for creating his version of psychology that described the structure of the mind: ...
''et al.''.) Second Edition, 1902.University of Michigan
* ''Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology''. (Trs.
Edward B. Titchener Edward Bradford Titchener (11 January 1867 – 3 August 1927) was an English psychologist who studied under Wilhelm Wundt for several years. Titchener is best known for creating his version of psychology that described the structure of the mind: ...
and James E. Creighton.) Second Edition, 1896.Harvard
Fourth Edition, 1907.StanfordUCLAUniversity of Illinois
* ''Outlines of Psychology''. (Tr.
Charles Hubbard Judd Charles Hubbard Judd (February 20, 1873 – July 18, 1946) was an American educational psychologist who played an influential role in the formation of the discipline. Part of the larger scientific movement of this period, Judd pushed for the us ...
.) Second Edition, 1902.Stanford
* ''Principles of Physiological Psychology''. Volume 1. (Tr.
Edward B. Titchener Edward Bradford Titchener (11 January 1867 – 3 August 1927) was an English psychologist who studied under Wilhelm Wundt for several years. Titchener is best known for creating his version of psychology that described the structure of the mind: ...
.)First Edition, 1904.HarvardLaneUniversity of MichiganHTML
Second Edition, 1910.UCLA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wundt, Wilhelm 1832 births 1920 deaths Physicians from Mannheim German psychologists Experimental psychologists 19th-century psychologists 20th-century psychologists People from the Grand Duchy of Baden University of Tübingen alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Heidelberg University alumni Heidelberg University faculty Leipzig University faculty Rectors of Leipzig University Philosophers of science Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Second Chamber of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Baden Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)