A Pictorial History of Psychology

Rating:
Summary: Interesting on different levels
Review: This book is incredibly large, with many authors. The original German edition, published in 1993, attempted to bring together a common heritage, which was soon expanded greatly by those whose beginnings in the tradition of Aristotle, Goethe, and Charles Darwin, mentioned in Part I of this book, also might find some common ground with the themes in the first selection of Part II of this book, "Wilhelm von Humboldt and the German University." (pp. 85-89). Humboldt had been put in charge of sweeping reforms of the educational system, though he had been educated mainly by tutors "at home, and he studied less than two years at two German universities." (p. 86). He devised entrance examinations, and "Humboldt appears to have ignored the question of the education of females altogether." (p. 87). The reforms by Prussia at the time of Napoleon, in which Humboldt took part in seeking new intellectual advances by German society as a whole, governed by philosophy in a way that had not been officially true before, is subject to a broader look at the same topic in the section "Idealists as University Reformers" on pages 646-650 of THE SOCIOLOGY OF PHILOSOPHIES by Randall Collins, who gives much more credit to the philosopher Fichte, who did not get mentioned in A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY. There is more fun in A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY than in most books on philosophy: the last section in Part I on the topic, Thinking Animals, has a "Caricature of Krall and his school for horses." (p. 81). Also, see the picture of "Henny Jutzler-Kindermann chatting with her dog Schlump by means of a letter board (ca. 1938)." (p. 82).

The Subject Index has a single entry for feminism, in the section on Lou Andreas-Salome: Feminist and Psychoanalyst (pp. 406-412). As an author and psychoanalyst, her views on the people she met in her life remain vivid and interesting. She is not included in the "Caricatures of nine psychoanalysts" on page 414, but four of those pictured at an International Psycho-Analytical Association meeting in Salzburg, Austria, in April, 1924, were women. There is a section on Maria Montessori on pages 326-328. Also, "Martha Muchow's Concept of Lifespace" (pp. 337-341) is before the section on Jean Piaget (pp. 342-347).

People who have little appreciation for Europe and its intellectuals might still be interested in reading about Georg Groddeck on pages 420-423, who is introduced as "a passionate opponent of the medical science of his day." (p. 420). "His excellent skills as a public speaker and persuasive writer led to the publication of his provocative psychoanalytic novel, THE SOUL SEEKER (1921), and his classic BOOK OF THE IT (1923)." (pp. 420-421). The novel expresses an intellectual quest that Lawrence Durrell called "the Groddeckian system. I can see what a tremendous effect it will have in the future--for the future belongs to Groddeck. Freud's part is the calculus, Groddeck's is the attitude. Ah! If only we had known about him in Paris! (letter [to Henry Miller], February 28, 1946)." (p. 422).

Those who are interested in how much philosophy has influenced psychology might want to know that A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY has a section in Part I on "Brentano: Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint" (pp. 61-65) and a section: "William James: America's Premier Psychologist." (pp. 66-70). Attempts to link philosophy to psychology in the more modern sections of this book appear to be most apt at the beginning of the section "Antipsychiatry and Antihistory: `Nailing Jelly to the Wall' " (pp. 545-462). Foucault and Szasz are "associated with what has been termed a social movement of the 1960s." (p. 454). Believing "Critical thinking has its greatest effects in producing change when its proponents come from within their own circle," (p. 455), leads to "Laing used schizophrenia as a metophor for late 20th-century society--specifically the paranoia and hysteria informing every aspect of it. . . . we are more sick than those we diagnose as schizophrenic because we are completely cut off from a large part of ourselves. In fact, we may actually make those we diagnose as schizophrenic into scapegoats for our unconscious feelings of paranoia." (pp. 459-460). Modern philosophy has become a way of expressing such views on intellectual singleness of mind, but don't expect to find any quotes of Emerson about foolish consistencies in this book to prove it.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting on different levels
Review: This book is incredibly large, with many authors. The original German edition, published in 1993, attempted to bring together a common heritage, which was soon expanded greatly by those whose beginnings in the tradition of Aristotle, Goethe, and Charles Darwin, mentioned in Part I of this book, also might find some common ground with the themes in the first selection of Part II of this book, "Wilhelm von Humboldt and the German University." (pp. 85-89). Humboldt had been put in charge of sweeping reforms of the educational system, though he had been educated mainly by tutors "at home, and he studied less than two years at two German universities." (p. 86). He devised entrance examinations, and "Humboldt appears to have ignored the question of the education of females altogether." (p. 87). The reforms by Prussia at the time of Napoleon, in which Humboldt took part in seeking new intellectual advances by German society as a whole, governed by philosophy in a way that had not been officially true before, is subject to a broader look at the same topic in the section "Idealists as University Reformers" on pages 646-650 of THE SOCIOLOGY OF PHILOSOPHIES by Randall Collins, who gives much more credit to the philosopher Fichte, who did not get mentioned in A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY. There is more fun in A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY than in most books on philosophy: the last section in Part I on the topic, Thinking Animals, has a "Caricature of Krall and his school for horses." (p. 81). Also, see the picture of "Henny Jutzler-Kindermann chatting with her dog Schlump by means of a letter board (ca. 1938)." (p. 82).

The Subject Index has a single entry for feminism, in the section on Lou Andreas-Salome: Feminist and Psychoanalyst (pp. 406-412). As an author and psychoanalyst, her views on the people she met in her life remain vivid and interesting. She is not included in the "Caricatures of nine psychoanalysts" on page 414, but four of those pictured at an International Psycho-Analytical Association meeting in Salzburg, Austria, in April, 1924, were women. There is a section on Maria Montessori on pages 326-328. Also, "Martha Muchow's Concept of Lifespace" (pp. 337-341) is before the section on Jean Piaget (pp. 342-347).

People who have little appreciation for Europe and its intellectuals might still be interested in reading about Georg Groddeck on pages 420-423, who is introduced as "a passionate opponent of the medical science of his day." (p. 420). "His excellent skills as a public speaker and persuasive writer led to the publication of his provocative psychoanalytic novel, THE SOUL SEEKER (1921), and his classic BOOK OF THE IT (1923)." (pp. 420-421). The novel expresses an intellectual quest that Lawrence Durrell called "the Groddeckian system. I can see what a tremendous effect it will have in the future--for the future belongs to Groddeck. Freud's part is the calculus, Groddeck's is the attitude. Ah! If only we had known about him in Paris! (letter [to Henry Miller], February 28, 1946)." (p. 422).

Those who are interested in how much philosophy has influenced psychology might want to know that A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY has a section in Part I on "Brentano: Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint" (pp. 61-65) and a section: "William James: America's Premier Psychologist." (pp. 66-70). Attempts to link philosophy to psychology in the more modern sections of this book appear to be most apt at the beginning of the section "Antipsychiatry and Antihistory: `Nailing Jelly to the Wall' " (pp. 545-462). Foucault and Szasz are "associated with what has been termed a social movement of the 1960s." (p. 454). Believing "Critical thinking has its greatest effects in producing change when its proponents come from within their own circle," (p. 455), leads to "Laing used schizophrenia as a metophor for late 20th-century society--specifically the paranoia and hysteria informing every aspect of it. . . . we are more sick than those we diagnose as schizophrenic because we are completely cut off from a large part of ourselves. In fact, we may actually make those we diagnose as schizophrenic into scapegoats for our unconscious feelings of paranoia." (pp. 459-460). Modern philosophy has become a way of expressing such views on intellectual singleness of mind, but don't expect to find any quotes of Emerson about foolish consistencies in this book to prove it.