History of Psychology.

Abstract

It has been said of psychology that it has a lengthy past but a short history. Perhaps for this very reason, psychology has long been interested in reconstructing the origins of modern ideas about mind and psychological process. From the earliest years of the discpline, psychologists have traced the roots of general trends and specific concepts in psychological thought. Robert H. Wozniak has selected seven of the most important works of this type, and Thoemmes Press present them here in their first edition. The set opens with modern psychology's earliest history - Theodule Ribot's "English Psychology" (1873), which charts developments in English associationsim, especially in the work of J.S. Mill, Bain, Spencer and Lewes. Volume 2 comprises Alexander Archibald's analysis (1898) of the concept of "Will" from the Greeks to the mid 19th century, with penetrating discussionis of medieval Christian doctrine and of modern views in both continental and British traditions. Next comes "Psychology..." (1902) by Janet & Seailles, the first topically orientated history of psychological thought (with chapters on perception, memory, language, the feelings). Volume 4 is G. Stanley Hall's "Founders of Modern Psychology" (1912) - it examines the lives and works of Fechner, hartmann, Helmhotlz, Lotze, Wundt and Seller. The influential American psychologist James Mark Baldwin's "History of Psychology" (1913) makes up Volume 5. In Volume 6, Howard C. Warren gives detailed accounts of early experimental work in his "History of the Association Psychology" (1921). The set concludes with E.C. Wilm's landmark study, "The Theories of Instinct" (1925), which ranges in its scope from the pre-Socratics to Darwin. This set of facsimile reprints should be of interest to those working in the history of psychology, and to philosophers of mind.