270 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



on ' Contemporary German Psychology,' which appeared 

 in 1879. M. Taine had ah-eady vigorously opposed the 

 French psychology of the eclectic school,^ and he 

 published in the same year with Eibot's first-named 



1 HippolyteAdolphe Taine (1828- 

 93) may perhaps be considered as 

 the first among French thinkers of 

 the second half of the nineteenth 

 century who aroused renewed in- 

 terest in the science of psychology. 

 He did so by a series of articles 

 which he published in the 'Revue 

 de rinstruction Publique ' in the 

 years 1855 and 1856, and which 

 appeared as a separate volume in 

 the beginning of the year 1857. 

 It was a virulent attack on the 

 official school of philosophy headed 

 by Victor Cousin, dealing with 

 Laromiguiere, Royer CoUard (un 

 dictateur), Maine de Biran (un 

 abstracteur de quintessence), Cousin 

 (un orateur), and Jouffroy (un 

 homme interieur). The title of 

 the first edition, ' Les Philosophes 

 Francais du XIX<^ Siecle,' was 

 changed in later editions to ' Les 

 Philosophes Classiques au XIX® 

 Siecle en France. ' He there shows 

 how the valuable ideas of the 

 eclectic school can be traced back 

 to the writings of Coiidillac, and 

 that what was added under the 

 influence of Scottish and German 

 thought by means of a bril- 

 liant rhetoric and great personal 

 influence does not mark a sub- 

 stantial progress, — such must be 

 attained by the methods successfully 

 introduced in the natural sciences ; 

 but he does not adopt the Positivism 

 of Comte, which at that time con- 

 demned all psychology, reducing it 

 to a branch of physiology. It is 

 interesting to note that he approves 

 of the general scheme of Hegel, 

 though condemning its metaphy- 

 sical elaboration. The preface to a 

 later edition he concludes by say- 



ing : "Such is the idea of nature 

 expounded by Hegel through 

 myriads of hypotheses, accom- 

 panied by the impenetrable darkness 

 of the most barbarous style, with 

 a complete reversal of the natural 

 movement of the mind. One comes 

 to see that this philosopliy has for 

 its origin a certain notion of caus- 

 ality. I have tried here to justify 

 and to apply this notion. I have 

 neither here nor elsewhere tried to 

 do anything more." In his later 

 work, quoted in the text, he gave 

 a specimen of this new psychology, 

 being largely guided by the writings 

 of John Stuart Mill and of Bain, 

 whom he may be said to have in- 

 troduced into France ; but he goes 

 beyond them by bringing in, at the 

 end, a kind of metaphysic. Of this, 

 Mill in his review of Taine's book 

 ('Fortnightly Review,' July 1870, 

 reprinted in ' Dissertations and Dis- 

 cussions,' vol. iv. p. Ill) says: 

 "AVlien M. Taine goes on to claim 

 for the first principles of other 

 sciences — e.g., of mechanics — a 

 similar origin and evidence to what 

 he claims for those of geometry, 

 and on the strength of that evidence 

 attributes to them an absolute 

 truth valid for the entire universe, 

 and independent of the limits of 

 experience, he falls into what 

 seemed to us still greater fallacies." 

 Through establishing psychology 

 on an independent basis, and 

 notably through his doctrine of the 

 milieu, Taine stands out as one of 

 the principal founders of that 

 modified Positivism which, as we 

 shall see in the sequel, plays such 

 an important part in recent French 

 thought. 



