The claims of psychology to a place in the circle of the sciences / sessional address of the President, Mr. Serjeant Cox.

  • Edward William Cox
Date:
[1878]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The claims of psychology to a place in the circle of the sciences / sessional address of the President, Mr. Serjeant Cox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    proved—whose very existence the greatest Scientists among us entirely deny. There can be no Science in a thing that is not. Therefore it is we refuse to give yon a place among the reports and records of the Scientific Societies of the time.” Hence it occurred to me that this fifth Sessional Address could not be more usefully employed than in answering these objectors and setting forth the true claims of Psychology, not merely to be deemed a Science, but to take a foremost place, as being one of the greatest and most important of all the Sciences. The definition of Psychology, as adopted by this Society, is perfect. It expresses precisely, clearly, emphatically, and truly what is designed by that title. My purpose this evening is to set forth the subjects for research and discussion that are properly embraced by that definition. I repeat it: Psychology is the Science that investigates the FORCES BY WHICH THE MOTIONS OF THE MATERIAL MECHANISM OF Man are directed and determi:^d. ” ATthough allied to Biology, or the Science of Life, with which it is often confused, it is in fact essentially distinct. Intelligent motion is not in any manner associated with the motions that indicate the presence of “ Life.” The pro- vince of Biology is to trace the difference between the things that have life and the things that have not life; to determine the points of divergence, and the laws that regu- late the beginning, the progress, and the end of life; to solve, if it can, the problem whence life comes and what it is. The range of Biology is sufficiently large and perfectly definite, but by no stretch of definition could it be a sub- stitute for Psychology. The Biologist having shown us what a living thing is; the Physiologist having taught us the structure of that living thing and the functions of its organs, whatever these may be—the Anthropologist, directing his attention to Man, [242]