Wilhelm Wundt Quotes & Sayings

“Hence, even in the domain of natural science the aid of the experimental method becomes indispensable whenever the problem set is the analysis of transient and impermanent phenomena, and not merely the observation of persistent and relatively constant objects.”

“We speak of virtue, honour, reason; but our thought does not translate any one of these concepts into a substance.”

“The materialistic point of view in psychology can claim, at best, only the value of an heuristic hypothesis.”

“Now, there are a very large number of bodily movements, having their source in our nervous system, that do not possess the character of conscious actions.”

“The distinguishing characteristics of mind are of a subjective sort; we know them only from the contents of our own consciousness.”

“Philosophical reflection could not leave the relation of mind and spirit in the obscurity which had satisfied the needs of the naive consciousness.”

“Physiology and psychology cover, between them, the field of vital phenomena; they deal with the facts of life at large, and in particular with the facts of human life.”

“The task of physiological psychology remains the same in the analysis of ideas that it was in the investigation of sensations: to act as mediator between the neighbouring sciences of physiology and psychology.”

“Physiological psychology is, therefore, first of all psychology.”

“Physiology seeks to derive the processes in our own nervous system from general physical forces, without considering whether these processes are or are not accompanied by processes of consciousness.”