PART I. 



THE APPLICATION OF THE EVOLUTIONARY 

 METHOD IN PSYCHOLOGY. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



"Every student of experimental psychology, whose object is 

 the exact description of facts, and research into their laws, 

 must henceforth set out with a physiological exposition, that 

 of the nervous system. Mr. Bain has done this, and also Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer (in his latest edition of the Principles of Psy- 

 chology). This is the obligatory point of departure, not re- 

 sulting from a passing fashion, but from nature itself, because 

 the existence of a nervous system being the condition of psycho- 

 logical life, we must return to the source, and show how the 

 phenomena of mental activity graft themselves upon the more 

 general manifestations of physical life.' !1 



With this statement, M. Th. Ribot introduces his exposi- 

 tion of the works of Mr. Bain and Mr. Herbert Spencer, in his 

 'English Psychology'. From this point of view, psychology, 

 as a science, must seek the explanation of its phenomena or 

 data, in the phenomena of physiology, particularly those of 

 the nervous system. This is fundamentally the position of 

 the Association psychologists up to the time of Darwin. From 

 the wealth of material supplied to biology by the work of 

 Darwin, and the great increase in the knowledge of organic 

 and nervous functions, this standpoint received a wonderful 

 impetus, and so firm became its hold, that, in the words of 

 Ribot, ' 'every study of experimental psychology must hence- 

 forth set out with a physiological exposition, that of the nerv- 

 ous system." Many psychologists since the time of Darwin, 

 following the example of Herbert Spencer and the Association 

 School preceding him, have faithfully taken their stand upon 

 this ground. 



But, are we justified in accepting the above claim? That 

 is to say, is it absolutely necessary for psychology to presup- 

 pose a knowledge of the nervous system? In order to come 

 to a conclusion on this subject, it is proposed to set forth the 

 basis and claims of the Association School in a brief survey of 



1 Th. Ribot, "English Psychology", p. 198. D. Appleton & Co., New 

 York. 1874. 



