Appropriation of Experimental Psychology by Two Jesuit Authors in the First Decades of the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This historical study analyzes the mode of appropriation of experimental psychology by two authors of the Society of Jesus-J. Fröbes and J. Lindworsky-in the fi rst decades of the twentieth century. The two researchers wrote several works about psychological science, its objects and methods. Some of these texts are textbooks, aimed at the diffusion of the area, including in the context of the Society. Through an analysis of these texts, a clear opening for new methods of knowledge provided by experimental science can be seen, as well as effort to preserve and emphasize the importance of concepts from traditional philosophical psychology. Thus, the two Jesuit authors sought to verify the relevance of aspects of traditional doctrines through new experimental methods and to highlight the relevance to experimental psychology, psychic processes especially signifi cant from the point of view of the Jesuit anthropology. They therefore sought to reconcile ancient and modern aspects, as a mode of appropriation present in the intellectual universe of the Society of Jesus since its founding.