Why did Wundt abandon his early theory of the unconscious? Towards a new interpretation of Wundt's psychological project.

Araújo, Saulo de Freitas

doi:10.1037/a0024478

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(29 reference statements)

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“…In order to answer this question, I have proposed a reappraisal of his work, based on the close relationship between the formation of his philosophical assumptions and the development of his psychology (e.g., Araujo, 2010Araujo, , 2012Araujo, , 2014bAraujo, , 2016. According to my central hypothesis, the evolution of Wundt's psychological project is guided and justified by philosophical reflections that led him to conceive a broad program for reforming all of German philosophy, in which psychology plays a major role.…”

Section: A Philosophical History Of Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, I have shown that one of the most important aspects of Wundt's psychology, namely, the abandonment of the unconscious as a useful concept for explaining mental processes-which occurred gradually between 1863 and 1874 (Wundt, 1862(Wundt, , 1863(Wundt, , 1874-cannot be explained without taking into account Wundt's intense philosophical studies and reflections during that period (Araujo, 2010(Araujo, , 2012(Araujo, , 2016. More specifically, I have argued that Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781 was the main source of inspiration for Wundt's change of mind.…”

Section: A Philosophical History Of Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toward a philosophical history of psychology: An alternative path for the future

Araújo

2016

Theory & Psychology

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Recent transformations in the history of science and the philosophy of science have led historians of psychology to raise questions about the future development of their historiography. Although there is a dominant tendency among them to view their discipline as related to the social turn in the history of science, there is no consensus over how to approach the history of psychology methodologically. The aim of this article is to address the issue of the future of the historiography of psychology by proposing an alternative but complementary path for the field, which I call a philosophical history of psychology. In order to achieve this goal, I will first present and discuss the emergence of the social turn in the history of psychology, showing some of its problems. I will then introduce the contemporary debate about the integration of the history of science and the philosophy of science as an alternative model for the history of psychology. Finally, I will propose general guidelines for a philosophical history of psychology, discussing some of its possible advantages and limitations. Keywordshistory of psychology, history of science, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of science Recent transformations in the history of science and the philosophy of science have led historians of psychology to raise questions about the future development of their historiography. 1 How might we conceive a critical history of psychology and bury once and for all the so-called celebratory or naïve historical narratives that still exist in the field? The recent debate between Kurt Danziger (2013) and Daniel Robinson (2013aRobinson ( , 2013b shows clearly that there are still profound disagreements among historians of psychology about

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Section: A Philosophical History Of Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Philosophical History Of Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a philosophical history of psychology: An alternative path for the future

Araújo

2016

Theory & Psychology

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“…However, soon after this first period of enthusiasm, Wundt entered a period of intense philosophical reflection, when he devoted himself "mainly to studies in logic and philosophy of nature" (Wundt, 1920, p. 67). This led him, as it has been shown elsewhere (Araujo, 2010(Araujo, , 2012, to an ever growing suspicion about the logical nature of mind, which ended up in the abandonment of the unconscious as an explanatory concept of mental phenomena. This happened between 1863 and 1874, a period that culminates in the publication of the first edition of his famous Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (Fundamentals of Physiological Psychology).…”

Section: The Emergence and Development Of Bekhterev's Psychoreflexolomentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Apart from the experimental studies developed in Leipzig, one must also take into account the philosophical dimension of Wundt's psychological program (Araujo, 2010(Araujo, , 2012). Wundt's psychology cannot be divorced from his all-embracing philosophical project, since it is the latter that gives the ultimate meaning of the former, that is to say, his psychological program is part of a much wider intellectual endeavor of reforming philosophy through the integration in a coherent and systematic whole of the empirical results of the particular sciences, thus providing at the end a new worldview.…”

Section: The Emergence and Development Of Bekhterev's Psychoreflexolomentioning

confidence: 99%

The Emergence and Development of Bekhterev's Psychoreflexology in Relation to Wundt's Experimental Psychology

Araújo¹

2014

J History Behavioral Science

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After its foundation, the Laboratory for Experimental Psychology at Leipzig University became an international center for psychological research, attracting students from all over the world. The Russian physiologist and psychiatrist Vladimir Bekhterev (1857-1927) was one of Wilhelm Wundt's students in 1885, and after returning to Russia he continued enthusiastically his experimental research on mental phenomena. However, he gradually distanced himself from Wundt's psychological project and developed a new concept of psychology: the so-called Objective Psychology or Psychoreflexology. The goal of this paper is to analyze Bekhterev's position in relation to Wundt's experimental psychology, by showing how the former came to reject the latter's conception of psychology. The results indicate that Bekhterev's development of a philosophical program, including his growing interest in establishing a new Weltanschauung is the main reason behind his divergence with Wundt, which is reflected in his conception of scientific psychology. Despite this, Wundt remained alive in Bekhterev's mind as an ideal counterpoint.

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“…On the one hand, it has been argued, for example, that Wundt's philosophical and metatheoretical positions must be reviewed and reconstructed (Araujo, 2012;Fahrenberg, 2012). On the other hand, the necessity of a rediscovery of Wundt's Völkerpsychologie has been defended (Eckart, 1997;Jüttemann, 2006;Schneider, 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing new archival sources to Wundt scholarship: The case of Wundt’s assistantship with Helmholtz.

Araújo¹

2014

History of Psychology

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Wilhelm Wundt's biography is one of the main domains in Wundt scholarship that deserves more detailed attention. The few existing biographical works present many problems, ranging from vagueness to chronological inaccuracies, among others. One of the important gaps concerns the so-called Heidelberg period (1852-1874), during which he went from being a medical student to holding a professorship at the University of Heidelberg. The aim of this article is to dispel a very common confusion in the secondary literature, which refers to Wundt's assistantship with Helmholtz at the Physiological Institute, by establishing the precise dates of his assistantship. Contrary to what is generally repeated in the secondary literature, the primary sources allow us to determine precisely this period from October 1858 to March 1865. I conclude by pointing out the indispensability of the primary sources not only to Wundt scholarship but also to the historiography of psychology in general.

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Why did Wundt abandon his early theory of the unconscious? Towards a new interpretation of Wundt's psychological project.

Cited by 15 publications

References 36 publications

Toward a philosophical history of psychology: An alternative path for the future

Toward a philosophical history of psychology: An alternative path for the future

The Emergence and Development of Bekhterev's Psychoreflexology in Relation to Wundt's Experimental Psychology

Bringing new archival sources to Wundt scholarship: The case of Wundt’s assistantship with Helmholtz.

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