262 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



half of the nineteenth century. In this country and 



in Germany we witness independent movements which, 



however, about the middle of the century, had in their 



46. natural development approached each other. The mutual 



national influence of the philosophies of the two countries was 



contact. 



not important up to the time when Sir William Hamilton 

 introduced the study of Kant in this country, and when 

 Beneke and others in Germany drew attention to some 

 of the writings of Bentham, Mill, and others. In France, 

 as we have seen, there existed a lively interest in psycho- 

 logical questions ; the influence of Maine de Biran, how- 

 ever, the most original of French psychologists, remained 

 somewhat in the background, whilst the great develop- 

 ment of the natural and medical sciences favoured those 

 researches which approached mental phenomena from 

 their physical aspects, and among these prominently also 

 from the pathological side. The greatest thinker of the 

 scientific school, whose importance became gradually re- 

 cognised since English philosophers had drawn attention 

 to his writings, Auguste Comte, reduced, in his earlier 

 writings, all psychology to biology. Psychology proper 

 lived on under the influence of the Scottish school in 

 the writings of the eclectic school, many members of 

 which drew attention to the new origins which they 

 announced as being contained in the writings of Maine 

 de Biran. Psychological research in all the three 

 countries, though mostly preserving its genuine 

 character in this country, was nevertheless largely 

 affected by the transcendental movement which, in 

 Germany, for a long time kept psychology proper in 

 check, which in France diverted it into the channels 



