Christian Wolff: The Ground Zero of Modern Psychology?

Abstract

It is not until Christian Wolff that the term psychology is explicitly given a central position in philosophy. He is also the one that redefines metaphysics and gives it a key role in philosophy again. Thus, Wolff represents a summary of the developments that had taken place since the concept of psychology was first used in the early sixteenth century. This chapter, therefore, suggests that Wolff might represent a kind of point zero in modern psychology. Since Edwin Boring’s history of psychology from the early twentieth century, Wilhelm Wundt and experimental psychology have been seen as the epitome of modern psychology. This position of psychology’s point zero quickly gives the impression that modernity entered psychology very late. This presentation attempts to show the opposite. By taking seriously how Wolff introduced psychology as an explicit aspect of a modern way of thinking, the advent of psychology is also linked to the emergence of modernity. This perspective on the relationship between psychology and modernity is a key reason for mentioning Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt often refers to Wolff, and Wolff must therefore be seen as a prerequisite for psychology becoming so central in the nineteenth century. Wolff’s writings became vital to most others who developed the field of psychology during the nineteenth century.