The mental limitations of the expert / by E.H. Hankin.

  • Ernest Hanbury Hankin
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The mental limitations of the expert / by E.H. Hankin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A certain difficulty will be met with, as the study becomes more advanced, in the vagueness of various terms in common use relating to the mind. Someone once described “ common sense ” as very common and rather dull. Huxley gives another meaning to the term when he says that science is organised common sense and yet another meaning when he recommends that “ non-professional common-sense mem¬ bers ” should be placed on a particular council to balance the opinions of certain learned professors. Nevertheless, in each of these instances, no ambiguity occurs as the meaning can easily be gathered from the context. A psychologist, on the other hand, if studying the amount of common sense possessed by different individuals, would obviously need a precise definition of the term. But in popular descriptive writing, such as will be found in this book, the author is merely concerned that his readers should know what he is writing about, and he, not being a psychologist, feels that he is best likely to achieve this aim by following popular usage in his use of such terms as “ instinct,” “ reason ” and “ subcon¬ scious mind.” The latter term is used to designate the total of the mental processes that occur outside consciousness without any reference to existing theories on the subject. This book deals with but a small part of the natural history of the human mind. It is a part which may claim to special interest in view of the growing importance of the expert in our daily life. E. H. HANKIN. Agra, India, November, iQ2i.