The Force of an Idea

This book presents, for the first time in English, a comprehensive anthology of essays on Christian Wolff's psychology written by leading international scholars. Christian Wolff is one of the towering figures in 18th-century Western thought. In the last decades, the publication of Wolff's Gesammelte Werke by Jean École and collaborators has aroused new interest in his ideas, but the meaning, scope, and impact of his psychological program have remained open to close and comprehensive analysis and discussion. That is what this volume aims to do.This is the first volume in English completely devoted to Wolff's efforts to systematize empirical and rational psychology, against the background of his understanding of scientific method in metaphysics. Wolff thereby paved the way to the very idea of a scientific psychology. The book is divided into two parts. The first one covers the theoretical and historical meaning and scope of Wolff's psychology, both in its internal structure and in its relation to other parts of his philosophical system, such as logic, cosmology, aesthetics, or practical philosophy. The second part deals with the reception and impact of Wolff's psychology, starting with early reactions from his disciples and opponents, and moving on to Kant, Hegel, and Wundt.The Force of an Idea: New Essays on Christian Wolff's Psychology shows not only that Wolff's psychological ideas have been misinterpreted, but also that they are historically more significant than traditional wisdom has it. The book, therefore, will be of interest to historians and philosophers of science, historians of philosophy and psychology, as well as to philosophers and psychologists interested in understanding the roots of scientific psychology in 18th and 19th century German philosophy.

First book in English totally dedicated to the analysis and discussion of Christian Wolff's psychology

Chapter 1. Introduction: Reevaluating Christian Wolff's Psychology.- Chapter 2. Who was Afraid of Wolff's Psychology? The Historical Context.- Chapter 3. The Origins and Development of Wolff's Psychology in His German writings.- Chapter 4. Empirical Psychology: Between Reason and Experience.- Chapter 5. Wolff and the Dogmas of Classical Rationalism.- Chapter 6. Wolff's Idea of Psychometria.- Chapter 7. Wolff on monadology and "Materialisterey".- Chapter 8. Wolff and the Logic of the Human Mind.- Chapter 9. Image Composition as an Aesthetic-Epistemological Problem in Wolff's Empirical Psychology.- Chapter 10. In-between Psychology and Moral Philosophy: Christian Wolff's Principle of Natural Obligation.- Chapter 11. The Relation between Psychology and the Other Parts of Metaphysics: Ontology, Cosmology, and Theology.- Chapter 12. Development and Diffusion of Wolff's Psychology through His Disciples and Followers.- Chapter 13. Wolffians and the Emancipation of Aesthetic Faculties.- Chapter 14. Wolff and the Beginnings of Experimental Psychology in the Eighteenth Century.- Chapter 15. The Science of the Soul and the Unyielding Architectonic: Kant versus Wolff on the Foundations of Psychology.- Chapter 16. Hegel and Wolff's Psychologies.- Chapter 17. The Most Excellent Psychological Systematist": Wolff's Psychology in the Eyes of Wilhelm Wundt