Abstract
Following the historical explorations by Blumenthal this paper revisits the genius of Wilhelm Wundt. It is observed that Wundt conceived psychology as the study of ‘Geist’ (mind) and ‘consciousnesses’ as the chief property of mind. Consciousness was held as self renewing (Entwicklung). Wundt emphasized on observing the inner private mental processes as a form of scientific data. He treated introspection as a method of observing an experience. Wundt deliberated upon the issues of structuralism and mental chemistry, Volkerpsychologie and voluntarism. His main contributions are reflected in six principles dealing with creative synthesis, psychological relativity, and psychological contrast, heterogeneity of ends, mental growth and development towards opposites. Wundt advocated a strictly scientific approach and his ideas were original and novel. While some of the assumptions of Wundt were subsequently discredited, he did anticipate many subsequent developments in psychology as a science.
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The author was a teacher of Philosophy and Psychology at universities in India and retired as Vic-Chancellorin 1983. He is indebted to his engineer son Rajiv for obtaining some literature through interuniversity loans. However, he alone is responsible for the views expressed
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Asthana, H.S. Wilhelm Wundt. Psychol Stud 60, 244–248 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-014-0295-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-014-0295-1