214 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



with mental phenomena had been largely developed in 

 this country, the results of this inquiry having found 

 expression in the great psychological treatises of Alexander 

 15ain (1818-1903)/ which appeared shortly before the 



^ Of all philosophers during the 

 nineteenth century Alexander 

 Bain deserves pre-eminently to be 

 called a psychologist. Others 

 equally great in psychological 

 analysis have nearly always been 

 tempted to enter the arena of 

 general philosophy, making psy- 

 chology the fundamental doctrine 

 from and through which metaphy- 

 sical problems might be approached, 

 or they have found psychology in- 

 sufficient for this purpose. Baiu 

 moreover furnishes the best example 

 of that tendency mentioned above 

 (note 1, p. 23), of following in psy- 

 chology the lead of the natural 

 sciences. " Be it noted that Prof. 

 Bain was, as most British philos- 

 ophers have been, under the in- 

 fluence of the leading scientific con- 

 ceptions of the moment. It may be 

 affirmed generally that the advance 

 in psychology in our land has very 

 much followed the advance in 

 physical research. The theory of 

 sound, for instance, was the out- 

 standing physical theory in the 

 time of Hartley. Consequently he 

 proceeded to interpret mind accord- 

 ing to the analogy, and to represent 

 the nervous process as simply 

 propagations of vibrations as in 

 sound. Chemistry, in like manner, 

 came to the front in the days of 

 Mill. Consequently the process of 

 Association was interpreted in terms 

 thereof — it was set forth as a kind 

 of mental chemistry. So, in Dr 

 Bain's time, physiology was attract- 

 ing much attention, and the work 

 of Johannes Midler, in particular, 

 was greatly in evidence, and there 

 was also an awakened interest in 

 biology. Hence the physiological 

 reference became prominent, and 



the method of natural history 

 pointed the way to Dr Bain's mode 

 of procedure " (Prof. W. L. 

 Davidson in ' Mind,' 1904, p. 162). 

 Prof. Sorley has, however, pointed 

 out that the influence of physiology 

 in Bain's writings is of a difi'erent 

 kind from that in which chemistry 

 influenced Mill : the latter being 

 of the nature of analogy, whereas, 

 in Bain, we find the tendency to 

 explain mental facts and processes 

 by physiological facts and processes. 

 Bain's principal works ('The Senses 

 and the Intellect,' 1855, ' The Emo- 

 tions and the Will,' 1859) were writ- 

 ten before the evolutionary theories 

 of the influence of heredity and 

 environment had been generally 

 recognised. This further stage in 

 natural science, fully established in 

 this country only later by Darwin, 

 led accordingly to a new scientific 

 formulation in the region of psy- 

 chology which is represented mainly 

 by Herbert Spencer (' Principles of 

 Psychology,' 1st ed. 1855, 2ud 

 ed. 1870, 1872). It has been 

 frequently remarked of Bain's 

 writings, as likewise of those of 

 Lotze in Germany, that they belong 

 essentially to the pre-evolutionary 

 period of thought. M. Ribot finds 

 Bain deficient likewise in morbid 

 psychology : " Je regrette, pour ma 

 part, que M. Bain ait ^te si som- 

 maire sur les phenomcnes qui font 

 la transition de la psychologie nor- 

 male h la psychologie morbide 

 (reves, sommeil magnetique, &c.), 

 et qu'il semblait si bien en t^tat 

 d'etudier. Mais le manque de 

 m^thode comparative est une des 

 lacunes de I'ouvrage. Ajoutons-y 

 I'absence trop ir^quente de I'idee 

 de progr^?, d'oii j ar suite I'^tude 



