382 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



HOFFDING'S OUTLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY.* 



THE translation of Hoffding's Psychology which is now of- 

 fered to English readers is not from the original Danish, 

 but from the German translation. Dr. Hoffding has, however, 

 taken a cordial interest in the preparation of the English edition, 

 and accepts it as adequately representing the original. The work 

 contains seven chapters, of which the first four are general and 

 introductory. Chapter I, on the Subject and Method of Psychol- 

 ogy, shows that the author is in close sympathy with the English 

 school in making analysis precede synthetic speculation. And in 

 this connection we noted with interest a marginal reference to 

 another work of Prof. Hoffding, that on The English Philosophy 

 of our Times (Copenhagen, 1874 ; German translation, 1889). We 

 have consequently given much heed to his occasional remarks 

 upon the contrast between the German and English schools, of 

 which we give the following as examples : 



The English school devotes attention rather to the elementary real side of 

 conscious life, to the manner in which the mental structure is raised by the com- 

 bination of fundamental elements ; the German school, on the contrary, attends 

 more to the connection and unity which from beginning to end are the marks of 

 consciousness. . . . German psychology has often exhibited a tendency to ap- 

 proach metaphysics; English psychology, on the other hand, has approached the 

 mechanical sciences, and has transferred analogies from them to the conception of 

 mental phenomena. 



Chapter II treats of Mind and Body ; Chapter III, of the Con- 

 scious and Unconscious ; Chapter IV is a short one on the Classi- 

 fication of the Psychological Elements ; and the remainder of the 

 volume contains three long chapters on the Psychology of Cogni- 

 tion, the Psychology of Feeling, and the Psychology of the Will. 

 His evident familiarity with all the schools of philosophy and 

 with the evolution of mental science in all times and countries 

 gives a characteristic breadth and adequacy to his views upon 

 disputed questions. 



In his chapter upon Mind and Body Prof. Hoffding discusses 

 the relation between these two different provinces of experience. 

 Using the word mind in the sense of consciousness as a collective 

 term for sensations, thoughts, feelings, and resolutions he asks 

 what experience teaches as to the connection of consciousness with 

 that other province of experience whose content is what moves in 

 space. His standpoint is purely empirical or phenomenal. He 



* Outlines of Psychology. By Harold Hoffding, Professor at the University of Copen- 

 hagen. Translated by Mary E. Lowndes. London and New York : Macmillan & Co., 

 1891. 375 pages, small octavo. Price, $1.50. 



