Outlines of psychology : with special reference to the theory of education / by James Sully.

  • James Sully
Date:
1889
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of psychology : with special reference to the theory of education / by James Sully. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The question as to the substance of mind is a philosophical or meta- physical one, and the solution of it does not seem necessary to psychology. It can be left over till the phenomena of mind are studied. It may, however, be said that some idea of mind as a unity, which holds together and combines the several states which we call psychical phenomena, is a necessary assumption or presupposition in psychology. Popular psycho- logy clearly implies this idea. We speak of the mind as thinking, feeling, and so forth. And it may be said that the language of scientific psychology, such as * state of mind,’ * mental activity,’ and so on, neces- sarily implies this idea. Psychology may then take up and adopt this idea of a phenomenal or ‘ empirical,’ as distinguished by Kant from a noumenal or ‘ intelligible ’ mind, self, or Ego. That is to say, we may assume the existence of minds in some sense or another, leaving it to philosophy to explain what exactly is implied in this assumption. On the need of some such assumption see Lotze, Metciphysic, Bk. III., Chap. I.; Yolkmann, Lehrbuch der Psych ^logie, § 10. Compare Wundt, Pliy- siologische Psychologie, 24es Cap., § 1. How, now, shall we mark off these psychical facts from other phenomena ? We cannot define such phenomena by resolving them into something sim- pler. They have nothing in common beyond the fact of being mental states. Hence we can only use some equivalent phrase, as when we say that a mental pheno- menon is a part of our conscious life, or a state of our consciousness.1 Or again we may enumerate the chie. varieties of these mental phenomena and say that mind is the sum of our processes of knowing, our feelings of pleasure and pain, and our voluntary doings. Popularly, mind is apt to be identified with knowing or intelligence. A man of mind is a man of intellect. But though intelligence is perhaps the most important part of mind it is not the whole. In 1 This is a rough popular way of speaking. The question whether there are any mental phenomena which are unconscious, that is, which da not enter into our conscious life or experience, is a subtle and much-disputed point in psychology.
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