Abstract
This chapter presents my translation of a text authored by William Stern and published in 1928 as a contribution to a volume edited by Emil Saupe under the title (in translation) ‘Introduction to Modern Psychology.’ The first segment of Stern’s writing elaborates on the concept of the person as a self-initiating, goal-oriented, and psychophysically neutral entity that converges with his/her physical and social world over the course of development. Stern then elaborates his understanding of the specifically psychological aspects of the life of persons, paying particular attention to the respective roles of conscious and unconscious material in a person’s experiences. This discussion, Stern notes, points directly to the need for interpretive procedures in the methodological toolbox of psychological science.
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Notes
- 1.
Endnotes
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 1 in the original text: [Person and Thing: System of Critical Personalism; 3 volumes. Leipzig: J. A. Barth. (Volume I. Derivation and Basic Tenets, 2nd edition 1925; Volume II: The Human Personality, 3rd edition, 1923; Volume III: Philosophy of Value, 1924.) For our current concerns, especially relevant are volume II and chapters 6–8 in volume III. The 1917 work titled ‘Psychology and Personalism no longer covers entirely my current understanding, and is no longer available, and is succeeded by the present work. A brief introduction can be found in the 1920 essay titled ‘The psychological life of the human personality.’ Volume VI of the edited work ‘Contemporary Philosophy in Self-Presentations.’ published in 1927, contains an account of the development of my personalistic convictions under continuous relationship to my psychological work. Some of my more focused psychological works also contain segments dealing with questions of principle; e.g. in The Psychology of Early Childhood there is a chapter on ‘The personalistic psychology of striving.’ Finally should be mentioned the 1922 essay by W. O. Döring titled ‘The Significance of Personalism for Pedagogy.’].
- 2.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: All parenthetical remarks expressed in German give terminology used by Stern in the original text. All parenthetical remarks expressed in English are translations of expressions that appeared in the original text. All remarks inserted into the English text by the translator will appear in brackets.
- 3.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 2 in the original text: [This concept of introception is central to the aforementioned work Philosophy of Value, which is the last of the three volumes setting forth the system of critical personalism.].
- 4.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 3 in the original text: [What is here being called the ‘affirmation of goals’ should not be understood to refer necessarily to a conscious affirmation. The intended meaning here is much broader. It is in the way that a person lives and functions—whether with or without the participation of consciousness—that one determines for oneself the meanings affirmed within one’s goal system.
- 5.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 4 in the original text: [These examples show again clearly the psychophysical neutrality of the concept of structure. In fact, a theory of ‘constitution’ is being developed within contemporary physiology, biology, and pathology that is nothing other than a personalistic conception of the physical person. On the other hand there is, for example, the typological structural framework of Spranger that extends beyond the purely mental to the other side, into the domain of objective value relationships.].
- 6.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In the passage set in quotation marks here, Stern has quoted is own 1924 work, Philosophy of Value, pp. 198–199.
- 7.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In the passage set in quotation marks here, Stern has again quoted his own 1924 work, Philosophy of Value, p. 201.
- 8.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 5 in the original text: [This is contrary to “experience philosophy.” For more on this point, refer to Philosophy of Value, p. 204 ff.].
References
Diriwächter, R., & Valsiner, J. (Eds.). (2008). Striving for the whole: Creating theoretical syntheses. New Brunswik, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Stern, W. (1928). Personalistische Psychologie (Personalistic psychology). In E. Saupe (Hg.), Einführung in die neuere Psychologie, 2. und 3. Auflage (S. 192–202). Osterwieck am Harz: A. W. Zickfeldt.
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Lamiell, J.T. (2021). Personalistic Psychology. In: Uncovering Critical Personalism. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67734-3_4
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