From Soul to Mind: The Emergence of Psychology, from Erasmus Darwin to William James

By Edward S. Reed

Book Overview

Early in the nineteenth century, psychology was considered a science of the soul; by the end of the century, it had abandoned the soul to become a science of the mind, says Edward Reed. In this lively and original account of psychology's formative years, Reed tells the story of the failures and successes of the attempts of nineteenth-century thinkers and practitioners--including philosophers, theologians, medical workers, mesmerists, and even poets--to make psychology into a science. He also situates psychological developments within the social, religious, and literary contexts of the times, taking into account the effects of such significant historical changes as rising nationalism, industrialization, urbanization, and changes in communication.

From Soul to Mind introduces a cast that includes not only well-known psychologists and philosophers (Kant, Reid, Darwin, James) but also figures important in their time who are largely forgotten today (R. H. Lotze in Germany, G. H. Lewes in Britain) and literary notables (Mary Shelley, E. T. A. Hoffman, Edgar Allan Poe). Countering the widespread belief that psychology is the offspring of philosophy, Reed contends that modern philosophy arose when academic philosophers sought to distinguish themselves from psychologists. He places the histories of philosophy and psychology within a broad intellectual and social framework and offers a new perspective on the roots of the New Psychology.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300075812
• ISBN13: 9780300075816
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding history of psychology

I had the good fortune to review this for _Library Journal_ and was dismayed to learn of the author's untimely death before I could send a letter of compliments. He tells us how the less scientific "soul" concept got transformed by scientific interests. But he goes by way of Mary Shelly's _Frankenstein_ (1815), which bootlegged a radical psychology that could not have been taught or allowed in church at the time. Frankenstein's creature was dispatched into a hostile world, abused, etc. and paid "humanity" back with monstrous acts. Mary S. was a teenager when she wrote it, and most popular retellings obscure the point that Reed brings forward. Readers who like this may also want to read Otto Rank's _Psychology and the Soul_ (1930/1998).

Simply excellent

This book is written as an essay, with no footnotes. A bibliographical essay in the appendix serves for documentation. The style is extremely lucid, in spite of the complexity of the intellectual history recounted here. Immensely instructive, original in the connections established and information unearthed, entertaining, marvellous. Can be read as a handbook or as a consecutive narrative (that will hold your attention)