The abilities of man : their nature and measurement / by C. Spearman.

  • Charles Spearman
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The abilities of man : their nature and measurement / by C. Spearman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/474 page 3
    THE PROBLEM and behaviour of a single individual, who himself, as the very name implies, is essentially indivisible. To this protest—borrowed from metaphysics—we may reply that certainly an individual cannot be broken up into independent pieces. But no less certainly the various aspects of his behaviour can and must be submitted to separate consideration. Every science whatever, physical no less than psychological, is obliged to dissect its subject- matter, to deal with the different aspects of it in succession, and finally to bring each of these into relation with all the rest. Only by first dividing can the scientist eventually conquer. In general, a person’s total cognitive ability may be re¬ garded as an instrument or organ at the disposal of any of his conative activities. It is this organ, then, that we are principally about to examine, and with especial reference to its variations of efficiency from one individual to another. The conative activities will only be brought within our scope to the extent that is needful to explain the working of the organ. But even this much will involve treating these activities in a far more fundamental manner than is usual in books on human ability.
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