266 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



Hig so- chology was to him not a purely empirical science, as 



psychology. i t was to the English school; it had to solve the great 



problems referring to the soul, and was thus related 



to metaphysics. 1 It is therefore not to be wondered at 



leben') on the subject was pub- 

 lished in the third volume of Rudolf 

 Wagner's Dictionary in the year 

 1846. His latest contribution is the 

 third section of his 'Metaphysics,' 

 published in 1879 as the second 

 volume of his (uncompleted) ' Sys- 

 tem of Philosophy." Bet ween these 

 two publications, embracing a period 

 of thirty-three years, there lie the 

 Works, through which he became 

 better known in wider circles, not- 

 ably his 'Medical Psychology,' his 

 ' Microcosmos, ' and his courses of lec- 

 tures, regularly delivered annually 

 on the subject. Of these, in their 

 final and most matured form, a 

 syllabus was published after Lotze's 

 death by Prof. Rehnisch of Gotting- 

 en. The inspection, however, of 

 different copies of the lecture notes 

 taken down by hearers shows that 

 he approached and introduced the 

 subject variously from different 

 aides. Also the publication of the 

 ' Kleine Schriften ' in four volumes 

 by D. Peipers proves sufficiently 

 that all through his literary career 

 Lotze recurred again and again to 

 psychology as one of the principal 

 subjects of his philosophical in- 

 terest. It was a disadvantage that 

 his first tract, which mapped out 

 as it were the field of psychological 

 research, was buried in the volumes 

 of a special psychological encyclo- 

 paedia, whereas it really was ad- 

 dressed as much to philosophers as 

 to naturalists. In this respect it 

 "had a similar fate to that which 

 has befallen in this country Prof. 

 James Ward's psychological treat- 

 ises buried in the volumes of the 

 'Britannica' or of 'Mind.' In 

 both cases original psychological 

 aspects and a definite programme 



of research became better known 

 only through those who came 

 primarily under the influence of 

 these suggestive treatises and 

 elaborated some of their ideas in 

 independent works. Another reason 

 why Lotze's deeper psychological 

 speculations were for a long time 

 little known and frequently mis- 

 understood is to be found in the 

 fact that his name was mainly con- 

 nected with his theory of "Local 

 Signs," a hypothesis which led 

 to much controversy and various 

 emendations, and to which I drew 

 attention in the chapter on the 

 '' Psycho-Physical view of Nature," 

 in the second volume of this 

 History, p. 507 et teq. That Lotze 

 adhered, all through his many 

 deliverances, to a metaphysical as a 

 necessary counterpart of the purely 

 empirical treatment of psychology, 

 and that he gave expression to this 

 in the latest of his Works, was also 

 a reason for passing them by during 

 a period which prided itself on hav- 

 ing found its way out of meta- 

 physics. That nevertheless such 

 discussions are inevitable and re- 

 current has of late become evident 

 in the most recent psychological 

 literature in Germany as in other 

 countries. 



1 The peculiarity of Lotze's 

 psychological as also of his other 

 writings and of his lectures con- 

 sists to a large extent in this, that 

 he seeks, first of all, clearly to 

 define the subject of which he treats, 

 and notably the main problems of 

 which it forms the centre. Thus, 

 in his earliest tract, he starts with 

 the question, What is it that in- 

 duces us to speak of the soul as a 

 special entity ? This question he 



