Philosophical Review

NotesSource: The Philosophical Review, Vol. 11, No. 5 (Sep., 1902), pp. 553-556Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2176670 .

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NOTES. THE PROBLEM OF MENTAL ARRANGEMENT.

The problem of the occurrence, in our conscious life, of elemental ex- periences, neither sensational nor affective, is a relatively modern issue in psychology. Professor Bentley's account of recent discussions of the doctrine is therefore timely as well as intrinsically useful.' Many of the papers which he condenses-notably those of Meinong-are needlessly obscure and diffuse; and from many of them he has skillfully disentangled the consideration of the general question from the detailed discussion of subordinate problems. It is, however, to be regretted that Dr. Bentley makes no reference to MUnsterberg's doctrine of Wertqualitdten,2 and that he does not consider the suggestive and relatively systematic contribution of Ebbinghaus to the subjects Nor is it easy to understand why the only reference to English writings is that to Stout's Anatyc Psychology.

An important, though incidental, conclusion to be drawn from Dr. Bent- ley's paper is the need of a uniform terminology. It is sadly confusing to find the same phenomena classed as ' form-qualities,' by Ehrenfels, as ' funded-contents,' ' objects of higher order' or I superiora,' by Meinong, and as ' perceptions' by Ebbinghaus. The writer of this review prefers to any of these terms Spencer's expression- relational elements '-entirely divorced from Spencer's associationist interpretation of the term. For the expression 'relational elements' suggests that 'dependent' character of these experiences which Cornelius marks 4 by naming them the ' attributes' of conscious complexes. The consciousness of unity, of likeness, or of difference, for example, never occurs alone, but always implies the con- sciousness at the same time of other elements or complexes.

Dr. Bentley's agreement with the theory formulated by this 'mass of literature,' consists in his admission that " the discussion has shown that a complete descriptive account of a mental complex demands more than an enumeration of its constituent elements taken as isolated units." Such an admission marks a great advance upon the bald sensationalism of much of our modern psychology. But Dr. Bentley recognizes as 'elements' of consciousness only sensational and affective phenomena, He therefore disputes the claim of Ehrenfels, Cornelius, and Ebbinghaus that attentive introspection, direct and indirect, discloses certain simple conscious ex-

1,Am. J. Ps., XII, 2, pp. 269-293. A summary of the article is published in this number of the REVIEW, PP. 530-531.

2 Grundzxige, pp. 290, ff. 3 GrundZifge, Buch III, Cap. II, A. 4Zeitschrift, XXIV, pp. i i8, el al. Cf. Meinong, Zeitschrif/, XXI, pp. x89-90;

Ebbingbaus, op. cit., p. 4II.

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554 THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW. [VOL. XI.

periences-for example the consciousness of oneness and that of differ- ence-co6rdinate with sensational and affective elements, but neither identical with them nor reducible to them. In place of this theory, Dr. Bentley suggests the doctrine that a complex conscious experience consists of sensational and affective elements, and of the ' plan of arrangement,' or "the mode, the pattern in which the elements are set forth." In the opinion of the present writer, this conception of the mode, or pattern, or plan of arrangement is dangerously vague and ambiguous. What place in an enumeration of conscious experiences does an ' arrangement' or a ' connection' occupy? Dr. Bentley does not mean by the terms to in- dicate a special sort of mental activity, as opposed to sense-content, for he effectively opposes this Kantian doctrine (as implied for example in some of Meinong's statements). But if, (I) the 'plan of arrangement' is not a mental activity-that is, a different sort of consciousness from sensation and affection, and if (2) it is not identical with sensational and affective elements, how can it fail to be either a specific kind of element, coordinate with sense-quality, sense-intensity, and affection, or else a complex inclusive of such specific elements ?

Dr. Bentley's unwillingness to recognize 'relational' elements in con- sciousness is in part due-the present writer believes-to the fact that many of those who assert the existence of these specific and elemental experi- ences confuse them with a very different sort of psychic phenomenon; with the highly complex consciousness of rhythm and that of spatial form. Both the space-consciousness and the rhythm-consciousness include, it is true, some consciousness of relation, or connection; but the consciousness of melody includes sensational and affective elements as well, and the consciousness of space-form is mainly sensational. To imply that either experience is unsensational or elemental is, therefore, highly misleading; nor does direct introspection disclose the presence of specific form-qualities as distinctive of particular melodies or figures. Both Schumann and Bentley argue effectively against the doctrine (as first expounded by Ehrenfels and accepted by some of his followers) that a melody or a spatial figure is characterized by a special ' form-quality' of its own. But such objections have no force against the contention that the introspective analysis of consciousness is incomplete when it has recognized only sensa- tional and affective elements; and that such specific and irreducible ex- periences as the consciousness of oneness and of likeness are as truly elements-distinguishable, though not separable, and unanalyzable parts of conscious contents-as the consciousness of redness, of sourness, of pleasantness. MARY WHITON CALKINS.

WELLESLEY COLLEGE.

THE philosophical chair in the University of Aberdeen, made vacant by Professor Latta's call to the University of Glasgow, has been filled by the appointment of Dr. James Black Baillie. Dr. Baillie is a graduate of

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No. 5.] NOTES. 555

Edinburgh, and has been Assistant in Philosophy at St. Andrew's and Lecturer at Dundee. He is the author of The Origin and Sig-nzifcance of Hegel's Logic.

ALEX. W. CRAWFORD (Ph.D. Cornell) has been appointed to succeed Professor Urban in the chair of philosophy at Ursinus College.

MIND, No. 43: F. H. Bradley, On Mental Conflict and Imputation; W. McDougal, The Physiological Factors of the Attention-Process; H. MacColl, Symbolic Reasoning; Discussions: J. A. Stewart, The Attitude of Speculative Idealism to Natural Science; Critical Notices: A. Sidgwick' s The Use of Words in Reasoning; G. H. Howison's The Limits of Evo- lution; J. E. McTaggart's Studies in tIe Hegelian Cosmology; C. Stumpf's Beilrige zur Akustik und Musikwissenschaft; K. Groos's The Play of Man; New Books; Philosophical Periodicals; Notes and Correspondence.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS, XII, 4: A. E. Robinson, Origin- ality ; John Morton, The Social Value of Trade Unionism; Josepih McCabe, The Conversion of St. Augustine; Alfred J. Jenkinson, "I The Problem of Conduct :" A Criticism ; Alfred H. Lloyd, Scholars of the Cloister: A Defence; Frank Thilly, Intuitionism and Teleology; J. D. Logan, The Optimistic Implications of Idealism ; Book Reviews of The Heart of the Emphire by Different Authors, Muirhead's Chapters from Aristotle's Ethics, Gomperz's Greek Thinkers, Joachim's A Study of the Ethics of Sfinoza, Pigou's Robert Browning as a Religious Teacher, Mrs. Webb's The Case for the Factory Acts, Hirsch' s Democracy versus Socialism, Mackay's Public Relief of the Poor, Fuller's Charity and the Poor Law, Jastrow's Fact and Fable in Psychology, Watt's A Study of Social Morality, Bixby' s The New World and the New Thought, May's The Miracles and Myths of the New Testament; Index to Vol. XII.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW, IX, 4: Haywood J. Pearce, Normal Motor Suggestibility; E. A. MAC. Gamble, The Perception of Sound Direction as a Conscious Process; H. A. Aikens and E. L. Thorndike, Correlations among Perceptive and Associative Processes ; Discussions and Reports; Psychological Literature; New Books; Notes.

THE MONIST, XII, 4: E. Mach, On the Psychology and Natural De- velopment of Geometry; H. Poincare, Relations between Experimental Physics and Mathematical Physics; Editor, Theology as a Science; H. Radau, The Creation-Story of Genesis i; Book Reviews.

ARCHIV FUR SYSTEMATISCHE PHILOSOPHIE, VIII, 2: H. Rickert, Yber die Aufgaben einer Logik der Geschichte; S. Witasek, Werth und Schonheit; A. Drews, Zur Frage nach dem Wesen des Ich; E. Bullaty, Das Bewusstseinsproblem; A. Zucca, La soluzione del Grande Enigma; Jahresbericht; Jahresbericht uiber Erscheinungen der Soziologie aus den Jahren I897 and I898.

ARCHIV FUR GESCHICHTE DER PHILOSOPHIE, XV, 4: R. Asmus, Julians Brief an Dionysios; K. Warmuth, Wissen und Glauben bei Pascal;

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5 56 THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW.

J. Lindsay, The Philosophy of Plotinus; E. Rodier, Les mathdmatiques et la dialectique dans le system de Platon; Jahresbericht; Jahresbericht uiber die Kirchenvater und ihr Verhaltniss zur Philosophie, I897-1900; Die deutsche Litteratur fiber die Sokratische, Platonische, und Aristotelische Philosophie, I899 und I900; Neueste Ercheinungen auf dem Gebiete der Geschichte der Philosophie.

KANTSTUDIEN, VII, 2, 3: F. Medicus, Kants Philosophie der Geschichte; I. Mirkin, Hat Kant Hume widerlegt?; A. Leclere, Le mouvement catho- lique Kantien en France a i'heure present; R. Falckenberg, Kants Beru- fung nach Erlangen; Selbstanzeigen; Mitteilungen.

ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PSYCHOLOGIE UND PHYSIOLOGIE DER SINNESORGANE, XXIX, 2: J. v. Kries, Ueber die im Netzhautcentrum fehlende Nach- bilderscheinung und uber die diesen Gegenstand betreffenden Arbeiten von C. Hess; C. Hess, Weitere Untersuchungen uiber totale Farbenblind- heit; W. A. Nagel, Erklarung zu der vorstehenden und einer friiheren Arbeit von C. Hess fiber totale Farbenblindheit; A. Samojlef, Einige Bemer- kungen zu dem Aufsatze von Dr. E. Storch: " Ueber die Wahrnehmung musikalischer Tonverhaltnisse "; Literaturbericht.

REVUE PHILOSOPHIQUE, XXVII, 7: J. H. Leuba, Les tendances funda- mentales des mystiques chretiens; J. Philifif5e, Qu'est-ce qu'une image mentale ?; C. Bos, Du plaisir de la douleur; Revue general: Vernon Lee, Travaux recent de l'esthetique allemande (K. Groos, P. Stern, Th. Lipps); Analyses et comptes rendus; J. M. Baldwin, Dictionary of Philosopihy and Psychology; Bernies, j5firitualith et immortality; Palagyi, Der Streit der Psychologisten und Formalisten in der modernen Logik; Campeano, Essai de psychologize militaire, individuelle et collective; Lindner, Geschichts- .5hilosotphie.

XXVII, 8: J. Sully, Les theories du risible; L. Dugas, Le surmenage a rebours; G. Palante, ttudes sociologiques; Notes et documents: H. Pihron, Sur l'interpr6tation des faits de paramnesie; Analyses et comptes rendus: Rickert, Die Grenzen dernaturwissenschaftlichen Begr/ffsbildung; Guiliaror, Predsmertnia misslixix vieka vo Franzii; Paulhan, Les carac- te'res: Bourdon, La tercettion visuelle de 1 estiace; Stern, Psychologie der Verinderungsauffassung; Mercier, Psychology: normal and morbid; Pierce, Studies in auditory and visual sfiace-fiercej5tion; Lafontaine, Le flaisir d'atire2s Platon et Aristote; Russell, A critical exposition of the Phi- Zosophy of Leibniz; Drews, Euard von Hartmann's fhilosof5hisches System im Grundriss; Revue des periodiques strangers.

REVUE DE METAPHYSIQUE ET DE MORALE, X, 4: M. Htbert, La derniere idole; E. Chartier, L'idee d'objet; Ch. Dunan, La responsibility: F. Evellin, La dialectique des antinomies Kantiennes; Discussions: A. Landry, L'utilite sociale de la propriety individuelle; ttudes critiques.

RIVISTA FILOSOFICA, V, 3: G. Vidari, civilta e morality'; G. Gentile, L'unita' della scuola secondaria e la liberty' degli studi; C. Cantoni, Studi Kantiani; Rassegna bibliographica.

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