Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Psychology

Introduction

The ideas of Hume and Kant, which we will be examining in this chapter, are of great importance for the future development of psychology. In particular, the contrasting ways in which they conceived of human experience formed the metaphysical bedrock of differing approaches to psychology. The Humean conception of experience as consisting of, fundamentally, discrete sensations only held together by fortuitous associations underpinned such schools of psychology as structuralism and behaviourism. The Kantian view of experience as something intrinsically structured, on the other hand, was a philosophical presupposition of thinkers such as Helmholtz and Wundt. Such profoundly differing conceptions meant that the psychologists who held them not only disagreed in the answers that they gave, but in the questions that they asked in the first place.

Hume and Kant were both creatures of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was the outcome of and fulfilment of a general trend in European thought that, since the time of Descartes and the scientific revolution, had distrusted and questioned traditional authorities. Its proponents argued against what they saw as superstition and urged instead that we put our trust in human reason. In the words of Kant, the motto of the Enlightenment was “dare to know”. One should have the courage to use one’s own reason instead of just accepting what tradition or authority tells one to believe, even if that means questioning and rejecting long-standing beliefs or indeed whole belief systems. This spirit of Enlightenment was above all manifested in the progress of science, particularly in the work of Isaac Newton. In his physics he seemed to many of his contemporaries to have discovered the fundamental laws of the universe, and was proof of the heights to which human reason could soar when unhampered by tradition and superstition.