Chapter III 



THE RENAISSANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY 

 by Joseph Jastrow 



MODERN psychology derives from the application of the 

 scientific method to the study of human nature; 

 it studies objectively the mental mechanisms and motives 

 and their organization; but such "objectivity" includes 

 the capacity to reflect upon experience. To the twentieth 

 century mind this statement seems as simple and convincing 

 as that nature includes mental nature. It is, however, the 

 issue of a long, irregular, and difficult evolution, a slowly 

 accumulated heritage of the ages. We may distinguish 

 three trails^ of interest in man's concern for knowledge 

 about himself; they appear in ancient as clearly as in recent 

 stages. The earliest is a combined religious, cosmic, 

 philosophical expression — a psj/chosophy, or more simply, 

 soul-lore. By that inclusion, psychology, while a new 

 science, has an ancient history. Soul-lore dominates in 

 early as in primitive reflection; it mingles dramatic inven- 

 tion with inquiry, making myth the antecedent of science. 

 In this approach the study of the mind is incorporated 

 with philosophy. There arises a body of doctrine philo- 

 sophical in temper but with increasing contributions of 

 psychologically minded philosophers; it characterizes 

 the course of inquiry from Aristotle to Descartes, and from 

 Descartes until the advent of the scientific concept of 

 psychology — a half century ago. 



1 As suggested by M. Dessoir, "History of Psychology," The Macmillan Qjm- 

 pany, N. Y., 1912. 



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