Modern Psychology and Man

MODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND MAN* T HE psychology of Aquinas is essentially a philosophic interpretation of human nature. The psychology of the moderns, on the other hand, is a scientific construction . The former is chiefly concerned with what man is; the latter centers its analysis on what man does. The two disciplines should be complementary in the same sense that the study of substance and the study of accidents are complementary . What I should like to suggest, in this paper, is that the philosophic analysis of man provides a basic set of tools for working over and measuring the value of the data of experimentation and scientific observation. To accomplish this end, it is necessary to point out, at least in a general way, the different lines of research that have been developed in th~ schools of modern psychology. By this method I believe it can be shown that the fundamental philosophic outlook has a real bearing on the problems investigated by the experimenter and the clinician. This bearing or relationship is established at t:wo points in the programmes of scientific psychology: :first, at the beginning, where the philosophic approach furnishes certain directive principles as to how investigative work shall be prosecuted; second, at the end, where the same outlook supplies further criteria as to how the results of investigation shall be interpreted. To illustrate: it should be clear to the scientist pre-investigatively , that man is an essential composition of soul and body. By this we mean that the relation which obtains between the psychic and somatic parts of human nature, or, more simply, between mind and its material substrate, is substantial in character. Acceptance of this principle will give the true per- *Editor's Note: This article is to form part of Dr. Brennan's new book entitled " Thomistic Psychology " to be published by Macmillan in the late Spring. 8 ~ODERN PSYCHOLOGY AND ~ 9 spective not only on the scope and content of scientific analysis, but also on the proper methods of attacking the phenomenal area of human nature. Similarly, it should be obvious to the scientist, post-investigatively, that human thinking and human willing are irreducible to purely sensitive acts. Acceptance of this principle will save him from the error of identifying the abstract insights and volitional impulses of man with the sensations and passions of the animal. n In his monumental work on the Origins of Contemporary Psychology, Desire Mercier indicated, once and for all, the position which philosophy must occupy in reference to contemporary psychology. This book is indispensable to one who would understand the philosophic milieu in which the science of psychology was born. Mercier was admirably equipped to write such a book. He was thoroughly familiar, through long years of study, with all the fields of the traditional philosophy. He was also equally at home in the experimental laboratory and the intricate techniques of psychological investigation. No one could better discern, therefore, the various philosophic tendencies that manifested themselves in the systems which divided scientific psychology from the beginning.1 The pioneer work of Wilhelm Wundt and Gustav Fechner, some three quarters of a century ago, laid down the general lines along which psychological investigation was to advance. These men not only applied the method'S proper to physiology, but invented other methods more adequate to the analysis of 1 Cf. The Origins of Contemporary Psychology. Translated by W. H. Mitchell, M.A. London: Washbourne, 1918. Every serious student of psychology should read this book. It is unique as a critical study, from Thomistic principles, of the progressive development of the science of mind. Unfortunately the text has no index. A new edition, supplying the defect, and adding a critique of the research that has been done since 1918, would greatly enhance the value of Mercier's classic work. At this point I should also like to call the reader's attention to Agostino Gemelli's important paper: " ll Punto di Vista della Neoscolastica di Fronte alia Moderna Psicologia," appearing in the Rivista di Filosofia N eo-Scholastica, August, 1984, which I have found particularly helpful in writing the present article. 10 ROBERT EDWARD BRENNAN conscious phenomena; They constructed a new discipline to...