8 



the work of its principal exponents. Following upon this will 

 be presented a short exposition of the Darwinian standpoint, 

 to which will be related ensuing psychological theories, and a 

 criticism offered, with a view to clearing the ground for a 

 possible theory of ethics. 



II. ASSOCIATION PSYCHOLOGY PRE-DARWINIAN. 



Association psychology took its rise in England not long 

 after the introduction of the modern scientific method into 

 science and philosophy. The introduction of this method into 

 Great Britain occurred in the early part of the seventeenth 

 century, but was not at that time popularly recognized. It 

 may be indicated, for our purpose, by two events, namely, the 

 work of Sir Isaac Newton, and the founding in 1660 of the 

 Royal Society. 



1. SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 



The attitude of Newton toward the use of speculation in 

 science, is seen in his well-known rule that the scientist should 

 make no hypothesis. This is indicated in the following state- 

 ment in reference to the properties of gravity: ' 'But hitherto 

 I have not been able to discover the cause of those properties 

 of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypothesis; for 

 whatever is not deduced from the phenomena is to be called a 

 hypothesis; and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physi- 

 cal, whether occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in 

 experimental philosophy. In this philosophy, particular propo- 

 sitions are inferred from the phenomena, and afterwards ren- 

 dered general by induction. Thus it was that the impenetra- 

 bility, the mobility and the impulsive force of bodies, and the 

 laws of motion and of gravitation were discovered.' ' l 



2. JOHN LOCKE. 



The method indicated here by Newton had its effect upon 

 contemporary philosophical discussion in regard to the nature 

 of consciousness. One of the first men who attempted to deal 

 with this problem, without assuming hypotheses, was John 

 Locke. Disregard of facts in the speculation of the past, and 

 the emphasis laid upon the investigation of facts by his immedi- 

 ate friends, each, doubtless, in its own way influenced Locke 



*Sir Isaac Newton, "The Principia", 1st American ed., Daniel Adee, 

 New York, p. 506. 



