Local institutionalization, discontinuity, and German textbooks of psychology, 1816-1854.

Full Abstract

In the context of social and intellectual developments and the changing role of German universities in the first half of the nineteenth century, which led to the local institutionalization of the discipline of psychology at German universities, the structure and content of textbooks of psychology are discussed. Textbooks in the first half of the nineteenth century had a pedagogical function in training teachers, in socializing students into the field, and in providing students and readers with knowledge about the subject matter, methodology, and topics of psychology. The textbooks, representative of influence, philosophical-psychological orientations, and different decades in the first half of the nineteenth century, are reconstructed with regard to the definition of psychology, the ways of studying the soul, and how to conceptually organize the field. The textbooks by Herbart, Beneke, and Waitz, which were written within a natural-scientific programmatic vision for psychology, are contrasted with the traditional philosophically intended textbooks of Reinhold, Mussmann, George, and Schilling. Fischhaber's textbook for Gymnasien is summarized. Issues regarding the continuity of psychology are discussed, and discontinuous developments in the history of German psychology are identified.

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Author information

Author/s: Teo, Thomas (T);

Affiliation: History and Theory of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Historical Article; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review

Journal: Journal of the history of the behavioral sciences (J Hist Behav Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-; vol 43 (issue 2) : pp 135-57

Dates: Created 2007/04/16; Completed 2007/06/21; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 17421032, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Philosophy, Medical - history
Psychology - history
Textbooks as Topic - history
Universities

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