HOFFDING'S OUTLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY. 383 



regards the subject from the psychological and not from the meta- 

 physical point of view. It is with him a question of science rather 

 than of philosophy, and this circumstance gives especial interest 

 to his views. We have had abundant philosophical disquisition 

 upon this subject, and it is refreshing to be told by a man of sci- 

 ence just how the case stands as a matter of knowledge. 



Although psychology is not a part of philosophy, yet Prof. 

 Hoffding teaches that philosophical thought, as a form of mental 

 activity, lies within the sphere of its observation. Without mak- 

 ing any assertions about the absolute nature of mental life, or 

 whether such a nature exists, psychology can bring a knowledge 

 of mental phenomena, of their mutual relations and their laws of 

 development, as a contribution to the general conception of the 

 universe ; and such a conception, framed in accordance with ex- 

 perience, should be able to clear the point of view and to correct 

 many prejudices. 



In treating of the Interrelation of Mind and Body, Prof. Hoff- 

 ding accordingly examines briefly, but with care and penetration, 

 the hypotheses that have been framed to explain the connection 

 between conscious life and the life of the brain. He proceeds en- 

 tirely from the point of view of experiential psychology, and with 

 no reference to a final philosophy believing that we only reach 

 the metaphysical point of view when experience has been thor- 

 oughly explored and its tendencies have been determined. 



We give the following extended extract from Prof. Hoffding's 

 work, both on account of its intrinsic interest and as an example 

 of his style and mode of treating the subject. Allowing due 

 weight to all the facts brought forward concerning the relations 

 of mind and body, he says : " Only four possibilities can be con- 

 ceived : (a) either consciousness and brain, mind and body, act 

 one upon the other as two distinct beings or substances (dualism) ; 



(b) or mind is only a from or a product of the body (materialism) ; 



(c) or the body is only a form or a product of one or several mental 

 beings (idealism or monistic spiritualism) ; (d) or, finally, mind 

 and body, consciousness and brain, are evolved as different forms 

 of expression of one and the same being." In examining these 

 several possibilities Prof. Hoffding repeats that, whichever we 

 may prefer, we can adopt it only as a provisional hypothesis and 

 not as a final philosophical or metaphysical theory ; our only con- 

 cern being to learn what is the view of experiential science. 



He enters upon the subject of dualism by asking : " Does an 

 excitation of a sense-organ, when transmitted to the brain, pass 

 into sensation ? Does our will set the body in motion ? What is 

 the relation between states of consciousness and brain processes ? 

 The ordinary notion is that the mind acts upon the body and the 

 body upon the mind/' He has elsewhere sagely remarked that 



