Psychology, or, A view of the human soul, including anthropology : adapted for the use of colleges

Preface

« Know thyself ” was the inscription on the temple of Apollo. The meaning of this terse admonition was either a practical one : Know thy frailties, thy human weakness, thy sinful nature ; acknowledge thyself what thou art, — and amend thy ways ; or it was a theoretical one : Man, the highest being in nature, who studies every thing below himself, who knows the soil which he cultivates, and the stars that regulate the seasons, and the laws of crystallization, vegetation and animalization — should not he desire to know himself? a being, who stands midway between the kingdom of nature and that of immortal spirits ? who is the measure of the earth and all it contains, who unites what is dispersed in nature, every power and ever)' beauty in himself? But how shall man become acquainted with himself both practically and theoretically ? This is the question, which the great Apollo did not answer. Shall he merely observe himself? But man is inclined either to place too high or too low a value upon himself ; he has not a proper measure for his judgment in himself. Shall he watch others ? He that will understand himself must observe those around him, but to understand them, he must look into his own heart. Thus he may indeed obtain a knowledge of man, but one, that is without systematic connection, incomplete, partial and imperfect. While we cannot do without such a knowledge of man, the admonition of Apollo will only be listened to fully, when we connect with this experimental knowledge a systematical development of all contained in man, especially of his reason and will. These are the basis of all the thoughts and actions, of all the sciences and practical pursuits in man, and without a knowledge of them, it will always remain difficult to understand man, as we meet him in life. Theory must here, as every where else, assist practice.

IV

PREFACE.

The principal object of the author in writing this hook, was to render this noble and delightful science accessible to all classes of readers, for as the inscription on the temple of Apollo was not only intended for some, but for every one approaching it, so the knowledge of man is desirable for every one and not for a few only. The author flatters himself, that he has effected this purpose bv using plain language, by following a simple course of thought, by taking all his illustrations from nature, and by comparing constantly the activities of mind with those analogous to it, in nature. With the exception of a few divisions, it is hoped therefore, that the present work may be read by all.

A second object of the author was to give the science of man a direct bearing upon other sciences, and especially upon religion and theology. Psychology and theology are connected by their common subject, which is man. Religion, of which theology is the science, is intended for man , and for him only ; psychology treats of man and not of any other being. Man as the subject of psychology, is created for religion and cannot do without it. Religion is not a mere quality , but the substance of man. He remains what he is, though he has no learning, no beauty, no wit, neither a strong memory nor an acute judgment ; but he ceases to be man in the full sense of the term when he has no religion ; — he is then only an animal, more cunning, crafty and prudent, than all the others, one that can invent machines, but he is no longer the lord of the earth, the image of his Creator. Now religion has for its soul , faith; this contains thoughts and ideas, as for instance, those of providence, of sin, of sanctification, of regeneration, of repentance, &c. Psychology develops the nature of reason and consequently that of its productions, which are thoughts ; and without understanding the nature of reason and its capacities, that of faith will not be clearly known ; for if faith and reason differ, as they do, how can this difference be exhibited, unless the being of each is manifest to us ? Again : Faith must be active by love, or else it is dead. It must therefore affect our will and fill it with love and animate it to good works. If so, the being of our will in its state of nature, and previous to its regeneration, ought likewise to be known. But as such it exists in the form of desires, inclinations, emotions and passions, and these are the subjects of psychology ; hence the study of the latter again is indispensable to a thorough study of theology. While, therefore, the first section of the second part will assist the science of dogmatics, the second has for its remote object to be auxiliary to that of Christian ethics.

It will scarcely be necessary to show the influence which a

PREFACE.

V good, systematical knowledge of man, of his reason and will, and their union with his body must have on the practice of medicine ; and if the physician studies human and comparative anatomy, physiology and somatology in general, he will find it much to his advantage, to know the whole life contained in the body which he dissects. And how will he manage cases of mental disease without psychology ? The basis of all pathology is certainly a knowledge of health, and this must be the same in the sphere of mind.

The lawyer, on the other hand, who protects our rights, will be the more successful in doing so, the better he understands human nature ; for all rights are those of man, and when disputed, passions and desires have darkened our knowledge of them ; and the lawyer in addressing the court, in developing the case before him, must well understand the nature of the passions, to make his case clear. The greatest lawyers and public orators, Pitt, Sheridan, Fox, &c., were also the finest psychologists. Many actions are committed under the influence of vehement emotions or passions : to value the guilt of such actions, their moving springs, the passions must be known.

But above all is the study of psychology useful to parents and teachers ; they have to draw out, what is in their children, and how can they do this well without knowing the nature of what they are expected to cultivate? Hence the study of psychology and especially of desires, inclinations and emotions, is indispensable to them.

Yet why should we speak of the mere usefulness of a science, which if well represented, is one of the most entertaining and interesting, which the human mind has produced ? Who would not feel anxious to see his portrait, drawn before the eye of his mind? Psychology is not only intended for the wants of man, whether sensual or intellectual, those of life or of social intercourse ; its highest design is to make man conscious of the subjects of which it treats, reason and will , and give him full possession of both. Man possesses only that of which be is conscious ; an inheritance of which I know nothing, may be mine in law, but not by possession. Unless I know my reason and will, I possess neither fully, but only partially.

The present work is, as far as the author knows, the first attempt to unite German and American mental philosophy. This design has not been executed by bringing together two separate systems or by forming an eclectic compound, which is neither the one nor the other, and the parts of which do not grow forth from one spirit, but are brought together from different sources and

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VI

PREFACE.

united by the writer — a real sphinx in the sphere of science. The author was rather anxious to have whatever the work contains, bear witness of one and the same objective spirit, which formed all the parts into one life, as the specific life of a tree changes all particles into one juice.

The author feels himself under obligation to acknowledge fully the use he has made of the following writers : Locke , D. Stewart , Reicl , Brown , Rosenkranz, Carus , Jr., Cams , Sen., Daub , Stiedenroth, Suabcdissen, Eschenmayer , Heinroth , Hegel , Kant, Wirth, Steffens , Hcrbart , Hartman, and others. He has used these authors with more or less freedom, and especially Carus, Jr., Daub and Rosenkranz, whose general arrangement he has adopted not without some improvements, however, as he hopes. The work was to be of one spirit ; whatever has been suggested by others, had to become a part of the whole by receiving this spirit and by representing it. Hence to save space, a general acknowledgment has been thought sufficient.

As to the language, the author has particularly to beg the indulgence of his readers. He hopes this will be granted, as in philosophy beauty of speech is less desirable than clearness , and as in this science we desire less to be entertained than to be enriched with ideas. The terminology of mental philosophy in the English language, as in almost all others, is difficult and not perfectly agreed on. Thus, to mention one instance instead of many, the difference between sensation and perception is by no means clearly established ; as yet it is still disputed. The author has therefore used sensation indiscriminately both for the perception of the object and the feeling connected with it in the sense by which it is perceived. Simplification has been his great object ; yet the signification once given to a word, has been strictly adhered to.

Mercersburgh, April 21st, 1840.

PRELIMINARY NOTICE

TO THE

SECOND EDITION.

The amiable and highly gifted author of the following work, had not quite completed his revision of it for the second edition, when it pleased God in his wise and righteous sovereignty, to take him away by death. In the circumstances, it seems proper to prefix here a few statements with regard to his life and character. Dr. Rauch was a native of Kirchbracht, in the Grand Dutchy of Hesse Darmstadt, born July 27, 1806. His father, a minister belonging before the “Union” to the Reformed Church, still lives to mourn over the tidings of his son’s untimely decease. He is an orthodox and diligent pastor, in the neighborhood of Frankfort, on the Maine. At the age of eighteen, Dr. Rauch entered the University of Marburg, where he took his diploma in the year 1827. Afterwards he spent a year, as a student at Giessen ; and subsequently to this another year still, at Heidelbergh. Here he enjoyed, as it would seem, the special regard and favor of that aged giant in the sphere of mind, Charles Daub, since dead ; a man, who had followed Kant, Schelling, and Hegel, to the farthest bounds of speculation, without surrendering for a moment his firm hold upon the great objects of faith ; resolutely facing the billows, as Tholuck has expressed it, and forcing his way through, where even Schleiermacher could save himself only by retreating towards the shore. For the memory of this man Dr. Rauch entertained always the highest veneration. Daub had fixed his eye upon him as a young man of more than common promise, who might be expected to do good service to the cause of science, in the department to which he wished to consecrate his life. On quitting Heidelberg, he spent a year again at Giessen, as professor extraordinarius ; at the end of which time, he received an appointment to a regular professorship in Heidelberg. Here however his fair prospects were suddenly covered with a dark cloud. In his lectures, he was supposed to have expressed himself with too much freedom with regard to government. Jealousy was awakened ; and it was considered necessary, in the judgment of his friends, that he should quit the country. With a sorrowful heart accordingly, he came

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PRELIMINARY NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

in the year 1831 to the United States. His first year was spent at Easton, in the State of Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1832 he was invited to take charge of the classical school, in connection with the Theological Seminary of the German Reformed Synod, then located at York in the same State. On the removal of this institution to Mercersberg in the year 1836, and the establishment of Marshall College, he became the President of the College, retaining his connection with the Seminary still as Professor of Biblical Literature.

It is not saying too much to affirm, that Dr. Rauch was one ot the finest scholars belonging to this country. His mind was of the first order, and his education had been complete. In the whole compass of the German Philosophy he was most perfectly at home. By a ten years residence in this country, he had become, at the same time, sufficiently Americanized to be able to enter without difficulty into the modes of thinking and feeling, which are here prevalent. He had ceased indeed to think of himself as a foreigner, and loved to identify himself entirely with our institutions and our character as his own. Thus might he be considered as qualified, beyond most if not all others, for transferring into the English sphere of thinking, the true spirit and life of German thought in a useful and intelligible way. This requires more a great deal, than mere translation or report from our language into the other. It can be properly accomplished only where the mind has become thoroughly pervaded with the life of its subject itself, so as to be able to give it out naturally and easily in a new form. That German Philosophy must, in the end make itself deeply and extensively felt upon our system of thinking, in one way and another is not to be doubted. It ought to do so; for it embodies elements which are needed to give tone and vigor to our inward life. At the same time, it is immensely important that the medium through which the one form of mind is made to flow over into the other, should be pure and clear. Under this view, Dr. Rauch was eminently fitted to transact between the mind of Germany and the mind of this country. He understood and honored Hegel as a philosopher ; and because he did so, he found himself in no danger of following him blindly into his errors. He was secured against all transcendental, pantheistic dreams, byr knowing familiarly the boundaries of this enchanted ground, rather than by mere blind prejudice. He was moreover a firm believer in the truth of the Bible, and in the great doctrines of grace which it teaches.

As he seemed to be thus specially qualified for such a service as has now been mentioned, so did he feel himself powerfully drawn towards it, as his proper and congenial vocation. Enthusiastically attached to his favorite studies, he cherished the lively hope of making himself useful, on this field, in a permanent and extensive way. His Psychology was only the beginning of what he wished and expected to accomplish, as an author. Of much more account, in his own estimation, was to have been his Moral

PRELIMINARY NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION. ix

Philosophy ; a work on which his heart was greatly set, and which he hoped to be able to publish in the course of the ensuing summer. A treatise on Aesthetics was -intended to carry out and complete the scheme.

Ilis system of Moral Philosophy is expected still to make its appearance, in substance at least, after some time. A course of lectures which he has left behind him on this subject, embody the principles and main thoughts of his contemplated treatise, though they may not exhibit fully the form in which it was designed that all should finally be comprehended, before going to the press.

As it regards the present work, its character may be considered as already fully established. No work of the sort in this country, has ever been so favorably received. The first edition was exhausted in a very few weeks after its publication. In this second edition, the author will be found to have made some material improvements upon the first ; not by changing or modifying his views at all, but by throwing them occasionally into a more perspicuous form, and guarding here and there against misconceptions, to which they were before exposed. He has moreover paid special attention to the phraseology, which here and there sounded too strongly of a foreign idiom, and to the occasional errors in typography which had escaped notice in the first edition. In this accurate revision due regard has been had to the opinions expressed in different reviews, in relation to the work, so far as they were considered to be worthy of attention. In the case however of most of the strictures which had been made upon it, he felt that he had no reason to yield his own judgment, as it had influenced him at first, to that of his reviewers. That he might not seem, at the same time, to have overlooked or despised such criticism, and for the purpose also of apologizing for his own views, he had expected to notice certain points thus animadverted upon, in a new Preface, more full than the first, and designed to stand in its place. This has been prevented by his death.

JOHN W. NEVIN.

Mercersburg, March 23, 1841.

INDEX OF CONTENTS.

Page

CHAPTER I. — Difference between man and the animal, 13 (1.) Man has the same physical functions as the

animal, 14

(2.) The psychological difference between man

and the animal, 15

CHAPTER II.— Life 22

§ 1. Life in general, ib.

§ 2. Of the plastic power, or the principle of all

individual life, 25

§ 3. Instinct, 34

§ 4. On the ingenuity of animals, 39

§ 5. Relation of instinct to man, 48

PART I.— ANTHROPOLOGY. CHAPTER I. — Modifications of mind produced by the permanent

influence of nature, 55

§ 1. The influence of nature upon the mind of

man, ib.

(1.) Highlands, 61

(2.) Plains and valleys, ib.

§ 2. The different races of mankind, 66

National differences, 68

(I.) The French, 73

(2.) The Italians, 74

(3.) The English, ib.

(4.) The Germans, 76

§ 3. Qualities of the mind produced by sexual

difference, 80

(1.) Physically, ib.

(2.) Psychologically, 81

Woman.

(1.) Moral disposition, ib.

(2.) Mental qualities, ib.

Man.

(1.) Moral disposition, 83

(2.) Mental qualities, ib

X11 INDEX OF CONTENTS.

§ 4. Temperaments, 85

The sanguine temperament, 88

The choleric temperament, 89

The melancholic temperament, 90

The phlegmatic temperament, 91

§ 5. Mental capacities, 92

(1.) Docility, ib.

(3.) Genius, ib.

§ 6. Idiosyncrasy, 100

CHAPTER II. — Of the transient influence of nature upon the mind, 103

§ 1- Age, ib.

(1.) Childhood, 105

(4.) Old age, ib.

§ 2. Sleeping and waking 119

(1.) What is sleeping and what is waking ? 110

(2.) Where is sleep met with? Ill

(3.) What is the design of sleep ? 113

(4.) What are the conditions of sleep ?.... 115

(5.) What is a regular sleep ? 116

(6.) What is falling asleep ? 117

(7.) What is awaking ? 118

§ 3. Dreaming, 119

(1.) The form of dreams, 125

(2.) Causes of dreams, 127

§ 4. Prophetic dreams, presentiment, vision and

deuteroscopy, or second sight, 129

§ 5. Magnetic sleep, 141

§ 6. Health and diseases of the mind, 149

Division of the diseases of the mind.

(1.) Melancholy, 151

(2.) Insanity, 152

(3.) Mania, ib.

CHAPTER III. — The power of the mind over the body, 160 (1.) The mind has an influence on the

form of the body, ib

(2.) Mind exercises a power over the

health of the body, 161

(3.) Power of the mind over the body may

be seen from the formation of habits, 164 (4.) The power of mind over the body is perceived in the art of representing the emotions and thoughts of the mind by the emotions of the body, 166 (5.) The power of the mind over the body leaves its traces and impressions on the face, on the forms of its single parts, as nose, lips, eyes, forehead,. 168 (6.) The power of the mind over the body is indicated too by the formation of the skull, which must bear witness of the life of the mind, 170

INDEX OF CONTENTS.

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PART II.— PSYCHOLOGY. Page

INTRODUCTION.

§ 1. Self-consciousness,

(1.) Self-feeling does not enable the animal to distinguish between the subject that feels and the object that is felt, 178 (2.) The animal having self-feeling does not distinguish between itself and

its members, ib.

(3.) The animal having self-feeling does not distinguish between itself and its

race, ib.

§ 2. Mutual relation of body and soul, 180

§ 3. Personality, 186

(1.) The person is not only the centre of

man , but also the centre of nature, 189 (2.) Our personality is the centre of the

whole human race, 190

(3.) Our personality is complete only when we are conscious of God and our relation to him, 191

§ 4. Division, 192

REASON.

CHAPTER I. § 1. Sensation and the senses, 204 (1.) Matter in general, 207

(2.) Its chemical qualities, ib.

(3.) Its light and sound, 208

General remarks on the senses, ib.

§ 2. Of attention, 216

(1.) Attention in general, 217

(2.) Difficulty of comprehending attention

in its origin as it exists in a child, 218

CHAPTER II. § 1. Intellectual conception, 223

§ 2. Of conception, 225

§ 4. Imagination, 233

Characteristics of imagination, 240

Semeiotic imagination, 249

§ 5. Language, 251

(1.) Without language there can be no

knowledge, 253

(2.) If God taught Adam language, he of

course taught him but one, 254

Its etymological elements, 261

First, — in the vowels, 262

Secondly, — in the consonants, 263

(l.) They are altogether imitative, ib.

(2.) Symbolical, ib.

The grammatical and syntactical elements, . . 264

Written language, ib.

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INDEX OF CONTENTS.

Page.

(1.) When memory is productive it is a

general conception, 269

(2.) Mechanical memory, ib.

CHAPTER III. — On pure thinking, 274 (1.) How thinking differs from the other

faculties of the mind, 276

(2.) The contents of our sensation are dark and little understood before our

thinking penetrates them, 283

Comprehension or apprehension, 284

Judgment, ib.

Syllogism, or conclusion, 285

Who is qualified for pure thinking, 287

OF WILL.

CHAPTER I. § 1. General nature of will, 293 Desire, 296

Inclination, 298

Emotion, 300

Passion, 302

§ 2. Relations of desires, inclinations, emotions,

and passions to the will, 304

CHAPTER II. § 1. On desires, 310 Sensual desires, ib

Sensual-intellectual desires, 311

Rational desires, 312

CHAPTER III. — On inclination and passion, 317

§ 1. Inclinations arising from the relation in

which man stands to himself, 319

Self-love, ib.

Love of life, 320

Self-hatred, 325

Self-love as a passion, 327

Self-love as a passion in a negative form, 328 § 2. Inclinations arising from the relation of man

to his fellow man, 330

Love of property, ib.

Love of property as a passion, 334

(1.) Covetousness, 335

3.) Prodigality, 337

Love of honor, 340

Love of honor as a passion, 345

(1.) Ambition, ib-

Love in general,

Sexual love, 352

Sexual love as a passion, 3 53

Parental and filial love 355

Fraternal love, 356

INDEX OF CONTENTS. XV

Page.

National love, 358

Love of mankind 359

CHAPTER IV. — Emotions, 364

§ 1. Simple emotions, ib.

§ 2. Mixed emotions, 366

Hope, ib.

Fear, 367

§ 3. Compound emotions, ib.

Depressing emotions, 371

Anxious expectation, 373

Despondency, 374

Patience, 375

Strengthening emotions, 378

\yrath 379

conclusion.— on religion, 383

§ 1. General nature of religion, ib.

(1.) Religion is not the mere knowledge

that there is a God, 384

(2.) Religion is not mere morality, ib.

(3.) Religion does not proceed from a feel.

ing of dependence in man, ib.

§ 2. True religion 388

§ 3. Religions of desire, 389

(1.) The lowest of all superstition is enchantment or feticism, ib.

(2.) Buddhism, 390

§ 4. Religions of imagination, 391

(1.) Brahmanism, ib.

(2.) The Persian religion, 392

(3.) Religion of the Egyptians, 393

(4.) Religion of Beauty, or the religion of

Greece, 394

§ 5. The religion of understanding, or cool reflection, 396

INTRODUCTION,

Chapter I. Difference Between Man And The Animal

It Is a very general remark, that man is the highest order of animals, or that he is an animal gifted with reason. W ere this correct, we might say with equal truth, that the animal is man without reason ; or that some of the plants, which seem to form a transition from the vegetable to the animal kingdom, are animals without sensation. Though man has, physically speaking, many things in common with the animal, he nevertheless differs from it in his whole constitution. Man is no more a mere continuation of the animal, than the animal is merely a continuation of the vegetable. The difference is perceptible, both physically and psychologically.

1. Man has the same physical functions that the animal has, but they are more perfect and more delicate. The body of the animal is either covered with scales or feathers, with fur, wool, or bristles. All of these approach more or less nearly to the nature of vegetables : and some of them, as for instance, the shell of snails and the tortoise, to inorganic nature. These insensible substances, interposed between the skin and the elements that surround and affect living beings, deprive animals of the more tender and delicate sensations, at the same time that they serve to protect them from the inclemency of the seasons. The body of man is covered with a, thin, highly sensitive, and beautiful skin, which is not concealed under a vegetable and lifeless veil, but unveiled exhibits the presence of

INTRODUCTION.

the blood, the pulsations of the heart, and the utterance of animation over the whole body. Everywhere sensitive, the swelling life shines forth from within, and the fresh, blooming color of the skin is but the expression of the internal power, the mirror of its healthy or sickly state. Over the face of man are shed beauty and spirit, and even animals are said to gaze at him with mute wonder. The complaint, that man alone is born without raiment, is silly, for this apparent helplessness is the source not only of the most various and delicate sensations, and knowledge derived from them, but also of much ingenuity. Man has not claws, but hands, that are susceptible of many different positions, by which he handles the chisel, which pours life and beauty over the hard, cold marble, the pencil that animates the canvas, the instrument from which he draws forth sweet melodies, and the iron, from which he forms the weapons denied him by nature. His body is so fashioned that he must walk upright ; for while no animal is intended to walk otherwise than on all-fours, the proportions of the human frame are such, as to render any other than an upright position almost impossible. His legs are much longer than his arms, his knees bend forward, his eves are in front and not at the sides, the ligaments of the neck are weak and incapable of supporting the head when hanging down, the arms are at a great distance from each other, and the breast is broad and full. A horizontal position would drive the blood into the head with such violence as to cause stupor. Man is made to turn his head from the earth to the skv, from the right to the left, to view now the crawling insect beneath his feet, and now the millions of stars above his head. To the fish it is natural to swim, to the bird to fly, to, man to walk upright. The Greek word for man, a being that can look

upwards, indicates the difference between man and animals in this respect. It influences our whole being and nature. Even the bees, when they have lost their queenbee, cause the larva of a future laboring bee to be transformed into a queen by changing its horizontal to an upright position, and giving it different food.

The same superiority is visible in the human face, its proportions and features. With the animal, the most pro-

INTRODUCTION.

1 5

minent. part is the mouth ; with man, the upper part of the lace. With the animal, the mouth, jaws, and teeth are to serve only physical purposes ; they are formed to pluck the grasses and twigs, or to seize and carry their prey, and thus to perform at die same time the service of the hands of man. The human mouth, with its beautiful and sensitive lips, its regular rows of teeth, serves not only the body, but the soul ; nourishes not only the stomach, but also the understanding. Its muscles are so movable, that according to Haller’s calculation, it may pronounce in one minute fifteen hundred letters. The contraction of a muscle forming the letter must consequently take place in in the three thousandth, and the vibrations of the stylopharyngean muscle in pronouncing a letter, in the thirty thousandth part of a minute. ‘ No bird flies as fast as the winged words fall from the lips of man.’

Comparing the animal physiologically with man, we cannot but perceive a great difference in this respect also. The lower the animal in the scale of being, the more it is confined to one and the same food. To this food it is directed by instinct, by constitution and appetite, as the magnet to the pole. Man, on the contrary, selects his food and drink from all the kingdoms of nature, from the salt of the ocean to the mushrooms of the forests, from the oyster and the amphibious turtle to the lofty sailors of the air and ibex of the High Alps. He prepares his food by fire, and the story of Prometheus is not a mere fable, but contains a deep truth. The laws of his digestion differ widely from those of animals, the functions of assimilation penetrating more thoroughly the elements of nutrition. The flesh of the fish, when compared with that of the bird, is found less formed and solid ; that of the bird less so than that of the quadruped, but the flesh of man is more perfect than that of any animal. This shows itself externally on the whole surface of the human body, and especially in the “ morbidezza” of the skin, the trial-point of all artists.