Class _ Book __ COPYRIGHT DEPOSJT A Syllabus of Psychology BRYANT. BY THE SAME AUTHOR : I. The World-Energy and its Self- Con- serration.— 12 mo $1 50 II. The Philosophy of Art, being the sec- ond part of Hegel's ^Esthetik, in which are unfolded, historically, the three great fundamental phases of the art-activity of the world. Translated and accompanied with an Introductory Essay giving an outline of the entire JEsthelik. — New York : D. Appleton & Co. ; Svo . . . . $1 75 Ill Philosophy of Landscape Painting. —16 mo., pp. 300 $1 00 IV. Goethe as a Representative of the Modern Art- Spirit.— 12 mo., pp. 31 . .$0 50 V. Eternity, a Thread in the Weaving of a Life.— 16 mo., pp. 40 $0 50 VI. A Text-Book of Psychology. (In prep- aration) . A SYLLABUS of PSYCHOLOGY BY / WILLIAM My BRYANT, w Instructor in Mental and Moral Philosophy ST. LOUIS HIGH SCHOOL. CHICAGO S. C. GRIGGS & CO. 1892. |**< l<.t<*b)k ^ COPYRIGHT, BY WM, M. BRYANT. 1892. PREFACE. This Syllabus, prepared primarily for use in my own classes, is published in its present form with the belief that, as emphasizing the more essential aspects of the subject and omitting minor details, it may prove serviceable as (in the stricter sense) a text for the brief course in Psychology practicable in high schools and academies generally. It is also hoped that, as a summary view of the subject, it may prove acceptable as a guide to private students as well. I am convinced that, for younger pupils especially, brief text-books are essential to anything like clear- ness and continuity of results. No doubt this neces- sitates only so much the greater degree of careful preparation on the part of the teacher. But in any case really vital results can be secured only in the de- gree in which the teacher throws his whole life into his work. It is, above all, through the contagion of his own personal enthusiasm that interest is to be awakened on the part of his pupils ; just as it is only through the freshness and validity of his own knowledge of the subject that his pupils can be led to apprehend its fundamental features, and to assimilate the proper method by which they can hope to become independent inquirers. A working teacher will always have working pupils ; and this the more if they are not overwhelmed with text-books rendered wholly unmanageable for them by sheer excess of details. For the more immediate purposes of education by far the greater part of details and illustrative matter can best be given directly in the class — it being assumed that the teacher himself is properly equipped. The outline here presented has developed directly through work in the school-room during the past seven years. I hope I need hardly say that I have drawn freely upon the works of leading thinkers, both ancient and modern. How far my work shows genuine as- similation and organic reproduction of results, the critical reader will, of course, decide for himself. A more extended text-book of the subject for use in more advanced classes is in preparation on the same general plan, and will, as I hope, be ready for issue within the coming year. For the convenience of private students a selected list of hand and reference books is added at the end of this Syllabus. A SYLLABUS OF PSYCHOLOGY. I. INTRODUCTION. In Psychology Mind is considered as an Individual; that is, as an indivisible unit of Energy. As such it has many modes clearly distinguishable, but wholly inseparable from one another. It is the special func- tion of Psychology as a Science to define the funda- mental modes of Mind and to show the necessary relations which those modes sustain one with another. Its task is not to trace individual idiosyncrasies, but rather to outline and account for the essential char- acteristics of Mind considered in its universal nature or type. And if Psychology takes account of "mental diseases" it does so only that it may the more clearly define the true or normal type. From its very nature as an indivisible unit of En- ergy Mind acts always as one. All its modes are involved in every act ; one or another mode being predominant in each act. The most complex phases are present from the first, but are latest in attaining maturity in the course of the unfolding of the individual mind. It is for this latter reason that there is the appearance of serial development in the unfolding of the several aspects of mind — as if one aspect began developing only after the development of another had been completed. In its development Mind presents two strongly con- trasted aspects. The first is predominantly Physical and comprises the whole range of Sensation. The second is predominantly Spiritual and unfolds in the three mutually inclusive phases of (A) Intellect, (B) Sensibility and (C) Will. It can here be only remarked in passing that Con- sciousness is the most comprehensive characteristic of mind as a concretely realized unit of Energy. It is, primarily, the sense of unity and co?itinuity of the in- dividual life. It is the form of recognition (1) of self as distinguished from external objects, (2) of the identity of the self of present experience with the self of past experiences, and (3) of self as a self- — i.e., 5^// 1 consciousness. This last form involves all the higher aspects of experience. The more rudimen- tary forms, for the very reason that they are rudimen- tary, are non-reflective. Hence in such forms con- sciousness is directed outward rather than inward. Much passes in its own process of which the individual is unconscious, or only obscurely conscious. For example, a child's consciousness is mainly of outward appearances in their most immediate (i. e., simplest) character. On the other hand, it has no conscious- ness of the real nature of those outward appearances. Its attitude toward the facts of the world it lives in is that of "unsuspecting innocence" or "naivete." It is conscious, and yet not conscious that it is con- scious. It has knowledge ; but its knowledge is in every particular only rudimentary in degree and hence requires the most thorough-going revision be- fore it can be counted as knowledge in any degree approaching real adequacy. It is this merely initial aspect of consciousness in contradistinction with con- sciousness in its fullest measure which has given rise to the riddle of "unconscious consciousness." II. SENSATION. As the predominantly physical aspect of mind, Sensation can be brought under scientific review only through the direct co-operation of the two sciences, Physiology and Psychology. Thus the scientific account of Sensation gives rise to, and in its posi- tive aspect constitutes the larger portion of, Physi- ological Psychology. Body, as the organ of mind, presents itself as a legitimate object of study in Psy- chology. This is, of course, especially true of that part of the bodily organism serving more directly as the mind's instrumentality — z. £., the nervous system ; and, above all, of the brain as pre-eminently the organ of mind. A. Nature of Sensation. — Every Sensation is essentially an act of mind. At the same time it is an act which in its nature is simply a response to an immediate physical stimulus ; that is, in Sensation mind is relatively passive. Whatever the nature of the external stimulus, there must be an immediate contact of the medium of stimulation with the sense- organ. In which fact there is strong intimation of the view (already entertained by Aristotle) that all the senses are modifications of the sense of Touch. This view is, besides, confirmed by the results of modern biological science. The chief senses are Sight, Hearing, Touch, Muscular Sense, Taste, Smell, Temperature. The negative aspect of all sensation is that of Pain as due to injury sustained by nervous tissue — especially that of the nerve-fibers. B. Limits of Sensation. — Sensation is the rudi- mentary aspect of the mind. Hence Sensation is not realizable as a "simple" mode of mind, since in its very existence all the other modes are already neces- sarily implied. Thus Sensation has its limitation in this: that it is the simplest aspect of relation between the mind and an external stimulus. As such it is the initial aspect at once of Intelligence, of Sensibility and of Will. C. Classification of the Senses. — As the im- mediate (simplest) relation of the mind to external stimuli, sensation presents both an objective and a subjective aspect. And as this relation between the mind and external stimuli involves the intermediation of the bodily organism, sensation also necessarily pre- sents a physiological aspect. Thus the senses are found to present several special groups of characteristics according as they are con- sidered in respect of the physical stimulus, the psychical response, or the physiological medium ; and hence they are to be grouped into classes with reference (1) to their objective aspect, (2) to their subjective aspect, and (3) to their physiological aspect. 1. Considered in their objective aspect, the senses are seen to be either (a) Geometrical — i. e., media through which consciousness of space-relations is awakened; or (b) non-geometrical — i. e., as possess- ing little or no suggestion of such relations. a. The Geometrical Senses are (#) Sight, (/5) Touch, and (7) the Muscular Sense. The first is the medium for perception of form and color ; the second for perception of form and texture, the third for per- ception of states, of matter and of motion (the latter subjectively experienced as "sense of motion ; " as in movement of the limbs, etc.) b. The Non- Geometrical Senses are («) Hear- ing, (/3) Taste, (/) Smell, (S) Temperature. In all these the geometrical character of the stimulus is broken up before the psychical response, properly speaking, begins. 2. Considered in their subjective aspect, the senses are either (a) Intellectual — i. e., media through which there is awakened consciousness of the world in all its characteristics, external and internal; or (b) Or- ganic — i. e., media through which there is awakened 10 consciousness of physiological states of the individual as referred directly or indirectly to external stimuli. a. The Intellectual senses are («) Sight, (/3) Hearing, (y) Touch and (d) the Muscular Sense. All these senses are involved in the minutest and most commonplace, as well as in the most important, details of life. The first two are involved in the higher range of Art and Science, supplementing one another in the most complex ways in both these spheres. Sight, as pre-eminently the geometrical sense, is constantly called into use as absolutely indispensable to science in its widest range as well as to all the arts of visible representation ; while hearing is the me- dium of all spoken language on the one hand and of the art of music on the other ; in which latter it shows its subtlest and most thoroughly subjective character. Both Touch and the Muscular Sense have a higher value intellectually than is commonly assigned them. Touch is constantly exercised to correct the impres- sions of form as developed through the sense of vision ; while the Muscular Sense is the sense through which the mind attains full conviction of the objective realty of the sensuous world. b. The Organic Senses are («) Taste, (,3) Smell, and (/) the sense of Temperature. (Other more or less vague forms of sensation are to be included as organic — as aspects of the general sense-conscious- ness, diffused feeling, Ge?neingefuehl.) 11 Smell and taste are also otherwise known as ' 'Senses of Nutrition." 3. Considered in their physiological aspect the senses are either (a) Mechanical — i. £., senses in which the response is to a simply mechanical exci- tation of the nerve-ends; or (b) Chemical — i. e., senses in which the response is to an actual chemical change produced by the stimulus in the end-organs of the nerves. a. The Mechanical senses are (a) Hearing, (/5) Touch, (y) the Muscular sense and (d) the Tempera- ture sense. 6. The Chemical senses are (