The Monist, Vol. 2, 1891-1892 : $b A quarterly magazineVarious
Philosophy
The Monist, Vol. 2, 1891-1892 : $b A quarterly magazine
Various
Philosophy -- Periodicals
As all sciences treat, to a great extent, of the same objects, they
can be separated only according to _how_ they treat things. On this
principle, Mr. Scripture divides sciences into Special Sciences,
General or Philosophical Sciences, and Didactic Sciences. The Special
sciences are, I, the Mathematical Sciences, treating the _forms_ of all
experience; II, the Phenomenal Sciences, treating of the _contents_
of all experience; the second class is divided into the Physical
Sciences, which treat experience from its objective side, and Mental
Sciences, which treat experience from its subjective side. The group
of Mental Sciences is best divided, according to Wundt’s scheme, into
the sciences of mental processes, Psychological Sciences; the sciences
of mental products, Philological Sciences; and the Sciences of mental
development, Historical Sciences. Psychology as a science of mental
phenomena has a two-fold relation to the physical sciences: it is
complementary to them, a necessary auxiliary; they are complementary
to it, accessories in psychological investigation. States of mind
always remain states of mind; they cannot be resolved into motions of
particles of matter, and it is a fundamental axiom that _mental phenomena
cannot influence or be influenced by material phenomena_. But we are
justified in talking about a nervous stimulation becoming a percept, a
muscular contraction following an act of will, as long as we remember
that these are only substitutes for unknown quantities. Physiology
investigates nervous changes; Psychology, mental changes; Physiological
Psychology, the relations between the two. Mental phenomena are of two
kinds, mental processes and mental products. Psychology is the science
of mental processes; it seeks the exact description and explanation
of the operations of our inner experience. The relation of Psychology
to Philosophy is a burning question. Metaphysics, or Philosophy in
the narrower sense, seeks from the agreement of the results of all
other sciences to establish a system of the principles that underlie
all existence, i. e. a theory of the universe, material and mental.
After the general principles have been determined by metaphysics,
philosophy has the duty of correcting the special sciences when they
set up one-sided hypotheses, and of helping where they are unable to
proceed alone. Psychology is considered a part of philosophy, but as
a special science, treating mental processes from its own standpoint,
it is distinct from psychology as a general science treating mind,
relations of mind and matter, etc., from the standpoint of philosophy.
The latter should be termed Philosophical Psychology. The relation of
Psychology to Logic depends on what the latter is. Logic is a science of
thought, but thought is also a subject of psychology. Psychology treats
thoughts as we think them; Logic, as we ought to think them. Each of the
sciences, Epistemology, the doctrine of knowledge, and Methodology, the
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