Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint
Author | Franz Brentano | |
---|---|---|
Original title | Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte | |
Translators | Antos C. Rancurello, D. B. Terrell, Linda L. McAlister | |
Country | Germany | |
Language | German | |
Subject | Psychology | |
Published |
| |
Media type | Print ( ISBN 978-1138019171 | |
Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint (German: Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte) (1874; second edition 1924) is an 1874 book by the Austrian philosopher Franz Brentano, in which the author argues that the goal of psychology should be to establish exact laws. Brentano's best known book, it established his reputation as a philosopher, helped to establish psychology as a scientific discipline, and influenced Husserlian phenomenology, analytic philosophy, gestalt psychology, and the philosopher Alexius Meinong's theory of objects. It has been called Brentano's best known works,[1] and it has been compared to the physician Wilhelm Wundt's Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie and the Project for a Scientific Psychology of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.
Summary
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2019) |
Discussing the philosopher
Background and publication history
Brentano was at work on Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint in 1873, while travelling in Europe after leaving the
Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint was first published as Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte, but subsequent editions were published as Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkt, which is the more commonly cited name. The first edition was designated Volume 1, but this was also abandoned in later editions.[4] In 1924, after Brentano's death, the book was published in a new edition, which included explanatory notes by the philosopher Oskar Kraus.[4]
Reception
Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint is Brentano's best-known book,[5] and much has been written about its "intentionality passage".[6] Brentano reintroduced the concept of intentionality into the philosophy of mind. However, the philosopher Roger Scruton describes the intentionality passage of Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint as both obscure and hesitant. Scruton believes that the obscurity of the passage is "compounded by Brentano's description of intentionality as the mark which distinguishes mental phenomena from physical phenomena, the latter being described, not as objective features of the natural world, but as appearances." According to Scruton, while in later editions of Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint Brentano described intentionality as a property of mental activity, and characterized it as a kind of "mental reference", Brentano never makes clear precisely what kind of property he believes it to be anywhere in his writings.[7] Scruton has commented that none of the volumes of Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint "fulfil the promise made in the book's title", adding that Brentano eventually came to doubt that an empirical science of the mental is likely to be invented.[8]
Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint has been compared to Sigmund Freud's early metapsychology, especially as expressed in his Project for a Scientific Psychology. The psychologist Paul Vitz, who calls Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint Brentano's greatest work, notes that while Brentano rejected the unconscious, "his answer followed largely from his definitions of consciousness and unconsciousness, and the evidence subsequently available to Freud did not, of course, figure in Brentano's thought."[9]
The philosopher Clark Glymour writes that Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint "gave Freud one vision of what psychology should seek to know, and of what methods it should use." According to Glymour, Brentano believed that "psychology should have exact laws, and that the goal of psychology should be to find such laws...Brentano held that there are exact laws that refer only to the mental, and do not need to appeal to physical circumstances." In Glymour's view, while Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint "contains lively criticism", Brentano nevertheless "had no laws of any interest to propose" and when Brentano tries to produce results from his method "the product is deadly dull and nearly vacuous." Glymour considers Brentano's efforts "lame" in comparison to the work of the physician Carl Wernicke, who produced a new analysis of the capacity for language.[10]
The philosopher
According to the philosopher Peter Simons, Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint "forged Franz Brentano's reputation and it remains his most important and influential single work...it helped to establish psychology as a scientific discipline in its own right. Through Brentano's illustrious circle of students it exerted a wide influence on philosophy and psychology, especially in Austria, Germany, Poland, and Italy." Simons compares the influence of Brentano's work to that of Wilhelm Wundt's Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie, also published in 1874. Simons lists gestalt psychology and Alexius Meinong's theory of objects as additional developments related to Brentano's work, noting that "The course of the Psychology's influence has yet to be fully run." Simons comments that Kraus's notes on Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint "are frequently shrill and intrusive." Simons writes that while passages in chapter one "clearly accord mental phenomena an epistemological advantage over physical phenomena", Kraus "cannot forbear intervening several times to explain how Brentano expresses himself misleadingly, how this conflicts with other things he says elsewhere, and so on." Simons believes that the purpose of Kraus's notes is to harmonize Brentano's views in Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint with views he adopted subsequently.[11]
References
- ^ "Franz Brentano | German Philosopher, Psychologist, Catholic Priest | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ^ Brentano 1995, p. 104.
- ^ Simons 1995, pp. xiv–xv.
- ^ a b Simons 1995, p. xiii.
- ^ Baumgartner 2005, p. 106.
- ^ a b Smith 1996, p. 35.
- ^ Scruton 1994, p. 378.
- ^ Scruton 2000, p. 242.
- ^ Vitz 1988, pp. 51–54.
- ^ Glymour 1991, pp. 47–51.
- ^ Simons 1995, pp. xiv–xvi.
Bibliography
- Books
- Baumgartner, Wilhelm (2005). "Brentano, Franz". In Honderich, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Second Edition. Oxford: ISBN 0-19-926479-1.
- Brentano, Franz (1995). Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint. London: ISBN 0-415-10661-3.
- Glymour, Clark (1991). "Freud's androids". In Neu, Jerome (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: ISBN 0-521-37779-X.
- ISBN 1-85799-100-1.
- ISBN 0-19-289329-7.
- Simons, Peter (1995). "Introduction to the Second Edition". In McAlister, Linda L. (ed.). Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint. London and New York: ISBN 0-415-10661-3.
- Smith, Barry (1996). Austrian Philosophy: The Legacy of Franz Brentano. Chicago: ISBN 0-8126-9307-8.
- Vitz, Paul C. (1988). Sigmund Freud's Christian Unconscious. New York: ISBN 0-89862-673-0.
Further reading
- Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte (1874) at Internet Archive
- Von der Klassifikation der psychischen Phänomene (1911) at Internet Archive