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    HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL METHOD. The Pri...

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    Theological And Social Essays. Essays Ec...

    l-M & ftmiaii * unanswered , bir answered onl * > y J _ Wj ^ ** ^ / SSsiStite . wde of brfchodp-iy . In ihe next place , the & ff W ces which Sfr £ ? bnybe » re Would represent as superficial , are in 5 fact essential ; they linicfa the very ground , of belief , and the source and character of spiritual life , jn the confaroversies yrhich he himself selects as specimens of quarrels obout jrtothins-r- those of prevenient grace and surplice preaehing-r-are involved the great questions of the sacramental system and the priesthood To . a « rree to diHer about such questions for the sake of combating " Atheists , " woulcl be merely to recal the history of that day on which Herod arid Pilate Were made fiiends . We h 6 pe that so honest a man as Mr . Conybeare-will not think of anything of the sort . Besides , how Tar does he expect his

    reconciling eclecticism to operate ¦? Does he expect the Papists to agree to differ with Protestants on the subjects of the Papacy andTransubstantiation . Unless this is effected , the Pagans of the factory and the Pantheists of the fbrum , will' still have the retort that though a hollow truce has been made between certain seets , for the sake of combating a third party , one half of Christendom still openly differs in toto from the other half . Mr . Cortybeare must seek better -ways of removing doubt than that of ignoring discrepancies , and better ways of restoring spiritual unity than an eclecticism adopted from the fear of dissolution . In the meantime , we venture to suggest that it is neither just nor wise in him to include under " Atheism" all that he would not term " Faith . " __ ¦ _ . ¦

    - ¦ It is difficult to see-what Mr . Conybeare ' s own position in the Church is . "We presume he is a sort of abstract churchman—a fourth party of pure reason by himself , moderating the other three . Something of the kind is requisite , since it is obvious that they cannot be expected to moderate themselves ; and to set them ta moderate each other by collision would be a singular arrangement , in the eyes of the flock . The Man Christ Jams .- —This book is written in a spirit of unaffected piety and , we have no doubt , with a sincere desire to attract to the truth those "Whom the writer believes to be in error . No candid and spiritually minded person , whatever doubts he may entertain as to the general evidences of-Christianity , will deny the difficulty of saying that the character of Christ is less than divine . But Mr . Craig must not think that people are '' blinded by the God of this world" who fail not only to believe , but to underhand , the union of the . two . distinct natures in one person , or to realise the perfecthumanity of abemcr invested all the time with every attribute of

    God . Ml the virtues on which Mr . Craig dilates are swallowed up in divinity . How can it be said that " His perfect firmness in all good _ was truly astoni s hing /* when he was " Himself the author of all good ? " How can -He ; fee praised ; for incorruptibleness and freedom from ambition when He was Ijord of the Universe all the time ? How can we admire his constancy , TVhen thedoubts and misgivings , which are the hardest , trial of human heroism , ¦ were impossible to Him ? Mr . Craig would even incur the charge of irreverence from many Christians , especially from Catholics , for the way in which he speaks of the human virtues and the geniics of Christ . Again , how can we feel perfect sympathy with a king who being undefiled ( and impeccable ) was , as * Mr . Craig says , separate from us . As to piety , it is inconceivable in Him f th ' o was one ' with the object of piety ; and wisdom must have been lost in that omniscience which was ever present , and which it is revolting to think its possessor can have ignored . These are the difficulties , not confined to unspirituui minds , perhaps , on the contrary , peculiar to spiritual minds and easily ignored by the unspiritual , which we would commend to the attention of Mr . Craig , who , we are sure , will in charity solve them if he can .

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    History Of Psychological Method. The Pri...

    HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL METHOD . The Principles of Psychology . By Herbert Spencer . Author of " Social Statics . " '• : i ' — Longman and Co . ( Second AirMcr * :. ) fp ' : pursuing pur project of sketching the Methods psychologists have adopted , . we must , with an eye to space , touch only on the leading charact eristics of each Method ; and we must also confine ourselves to modern times . With Hobbes and Locke a now era began . They opposed the reigning doctrine of innate ideas . They analysed Thought aa the product of Experience ; Hbbbes , as wjts natural in the first vehemence of the swing of reftctibn against spiritualism ,- recognises nothing in the mind but sensniiorts in all their varieties ; the mind , lie said , is moved by external motion , that is all . Locke , on deeper meditation , saw that there was something it

    more thutu this ; he saw , dimly it ia true , yet never overlooking altogether , ttiafctnejriind'co-opertMetf . Not only Sense , but Reflection on the materials given through Sense , furnished , ho said , the com pie ± thoughts of man . i'hus he proclaimed Experience the source of all knowledge . The Mind of tfee Child ' was like a sheet of blank paper on which Experience wrote its tvK \ rious mfceordai In Locke we see the initial steps of the Physiological Method * and as he was himself an anatomist , there is nothing surprising in his having been ledi by his study of mam ' s structure to some conclusions respecting man ' s mind . Ho directed that attention to Sense which mefcaphysici » ns had been in the habit of directing to ideas and verbal subtleties ; fcn-d by so doing , took an important step towards confrontation of speculation -with . / acty arid' initiated the still more important idea of u constant relation between organ-and function * . He also was led to study the growth of mind ; and hence his fi'equtmt reference to Bavages and children , which hostIf

    distresses > Victor Cousin , ' who is us terrified at fact aa at a g . CNperiehce -be our sehoolmivster , it'is ' clear that we gain immense benefit frprn considering tlhe ' les ^ ons in theil * different stages ; children and savages are young * scholars , > ¦ : ; i ' - '' ;¦ ' ¦'• ¦ ¦ ' ¦ <^ ' ¦ ¦¦ . v ' "Gro » t na X » ocfee ' a services wore ' , ther ^ e y r & s A , ' radical vice in his system Which prevented its acceptance . He began the Physiological Method , but ho only began it . The Experience hypothesis would not suffice to explain a < M phenomena ( at least not as that hypothesis was then understood ) \ there Wore fowna of thought neither reducible to sense and reflection ' nor to expo-Jrionc « . He referred to children and savages f but he neither did this ^ GtqtDHtically , nor did he extend' the Qrmj > aratit > t Method to animal * . , The prejudices <> f ^ that a » e forbade it . The ignorance of ^ thnt age made it impossible . . Comparative Physiology is no older than Gootho , and Comparative Psychology is only now glimmering in the minds of men as a possibility .

    If men fornierly thought they could understand man ' s body by dissectmg it , and did hot need the light thrown thereon by the" dissection "'' of ; animals ; they were still less likely to seek psycKial illustrations" in animals , denying , as they did , that animals ha » J minds . The school of Locke , therefore , although regarding Mind as a property of Matter , and consequently directing attention to the human organism , trying to understand the mechanism of sensation , thus dealing with tangible realities instead of with impalpable and ever-shifting entities , was really incompetent to solve the problems it had set itself , because its Method was imperfect , and its knowledge incomplete . The good effect ^ of their labours was positive ; the evil negative . [ Following out this positive tendency we see Hartley , Bonnet , and Cabanis advancing still nearer to a true Methodthe two first by a bold and admirable hypothesis , making the phenomena dependent on vibrations of the nerves , thus leading -to a still more precise last bat

    and definite consideration of the organism ; the y once establishing the relation of organ and function , an d considering the Moral as dependent on the Physical constitution . Hartley , Bonnet , and Cabanis have passed away , and those who point out their errors seldom appreciate the great impulse given to speculation by their writings ; a really good hypothesis always has the subsidiary merit of concentrating attention upon some definite point ; to refute it we are forced to get nearer the real fact . From Unzer and Prochaska , and more especially from Gall , the Physiological Method received a new and potent impulse . It is only by comparing Gall with his predecessors that an approximative idea can be formed of his merit . People who only know Gall as the founder of Phrenology should read his great work , L'Anatomie du Systeme Nerveux , if they would learn how immeasurably superior he is to the Phrenologists , and how far they have departed from the course which he laid down . Gall seized the true principle of the necessary relation of organ and function . Otters had seen this principle ,

    and proclaimed it ; but he , among psj'chologists , was the one who made it paramount , who taught in detail that every variation in the organ must bring about a corresponding variation in the function , and that such as the organ was such would be the manifestation ; if the piano is at concert pitch you may make it discourse eloquent music ; but as the strings relax discord becomes more and more obtrusive . He does not say the mind is the product of organisation : nous tie confondons pas les conditions avec les causes efficieiues . He limits himself to the observed fact of correspondence between the state of the organ and its manifestations . His first object , therefore , is to expound the anatomical structure of the nervous system : having inade an exposition of the organ , he proceeds to an exposition of its physiology , of its function . We may take this opportunity of varying our historical sketch by a quotation from Mr . Spencer ' s remarks on Phrenology : we omit his arguments against Phrenology , because this paper is historical , not critical : —

    And here this doctrine of the hereditary transmission of tendencies towards certain complex aggregations of psychical states corresponding to complex aggregations of external phenomena ; and the consequent organisation of such tendencies in the race , suggests a few remarks on the tenets of the phrenologists . That an organised tendency towards certain complex aggregations of psychical states , supposes a structural modification of the nervous system—a special set of complex nervous connections whereby the numerous excitations constituting the emotion may be co-ordinated—no one having ev « p a superficial knowledge of Physiology can doubt . As every student . of the nervous system , knows , the

    combination of any set of impressions , or motions , or both , implies a ganglion , in -which the various nerve-fibres concerned are put in connection . To combine the actions of any set of ganglia , implies some ganglion in connection with them all . And so on in ever-ascending stages of complication : the nervous masses concerned , becoming larger in proportion to the complexity of the co-ordinations they have to effect . The induction that the same thing holds throughout is , I think , irresistible . And if so , it follows that every emotion implies some portion of nervous structure by which its various elements are united—a portion which is large in proportion as these elements are many and varied ; and ¦ which , iu virtue of its co-ordinating function , is more especially the seat of the emotion .

    That , in their antagonism to the unscientific reasonings of the phrenologists , the physiologists should have gone to the extent pf denying or ignoring any localisation of function in the cerebrum , is , perhaps , not to be . wondered at : it is in harmony with the course of controversies in general . But no physiologist who calmly considers the question in connection with the general truths of his science , can long resist the conviction that different parts of the cerebrum subserve different kinds of mental action . Localisation of function is tho law of all organisation whatever : senaratenesa of duty is universally accompanied with separateness of structure : and it would be marvellous wore an exception to exist in the cerebral hemispheres . Let it be granted that the cerebral hemispheres are the seat of the higher psychical activities ; let it bo granted that among those higher psychical activities there are distinctions of kind , which , though not definite , ? ro yet practically recognisable ; and it cannot bo denied , without going in direct opposition to established physiological principles , that these more or less distinct kinds of psychical activity must bo carried on in more or less distinct

    parts of the cerebral hemispheres . To question this , ia not only to ignore the truths of physiology as o whblo ; but especially those ot the physiology of tho nervous system . It ia proved experimentally , that every bundle of nerve-fibres and every ganglion has a special duty ; and that each part of every such bundle and every such ganglion has a duty still more special . Can it bo , then , that in the great hemispherical ganglia alone , thia specialisation of duty does not hold ? If it bo urged that there are no marked divisions . among the fibroaof the cerebrum , I reply—neither are tliore among those contained , in , one of tho bundles proceeding from tho spinal chord to any part of tho body : yet each of the fibres in , a \ ich bundle has a function more or less special , though a function included in that of tho bundle considered as a whole . And this is juat tho kind of specialisation which may be presumed to exist in different parts of tho eerobrum . Just as there nro aggregated together in a Hciatie

    nerve , n great number * of norvc-nbros , each of which has a particular office referring to some one part of the log , but all of which have for their joint duty tho managoment of the leg ns a whole } so , in any one region of tho cerebrum , each norvo-fibre may bo concluded to have some particular office , which , in common with tho particular offices of thousands of neighbouring fibres , la merged in some general ofllco whicli that region of tho cerebrum fulfils . Indeed , any other hypothesis seems to me , on the fape of it , untenable . Either there is , some arrungernent ; BQmo organisation , »» tho corobrum , or there is none . If ther « iu , np organriaatjioH , tho cerebrum ia a chaotic mass of fibres , incapable of performing any orderly . action . If there i » some organisation , it must consist in that same " physiologieaji division of labour" in which »» organisation consists ; and there ia no division of labour , physiological or other , ot which we have any example , or can form any conception , but what involves tho concentration of special kinds of activity in special places .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 27, 1855, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27101855/page/16/