Mind And Body - A Criticism Of Psychophysical Parallelism

MIND AND BODY A CRITICISM OF PSYCHOPHYSICAL PARALLELISM BY HANS DRIESGH AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR BY THEODORE BESTERMAN METHUEN CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W. C, LONDON This Translation first published in 1927 OTHER WORKS BY THEODORE BESTERMAN CRYSTAL-GAZING A Study of the History, Distribution, Theory and Practice of Scrying. Rider, THE DIVINING-ROD An Experimental and Psychological Investigation. With Sir WILLIAM BARRETT, F. R. S, Methuen. THE MYSTIC ROSE A Study of Primitive Marriage and of Primitive Thought in its Bearing on Marriage. By ERNEST CRAWLEY. Revised and Enlarged Edition by THEODORE BESTERMAN. Methuen. 2 vols. IN GRgAT BRITAIN TRANSLATORS NOTE AS a glance at the Bibliography at the end of this volume will show, Dr Drieschs friendship with the English speaking countries is of long standing. Over thirty years ago see No. 45 he was specially reporting English research work in the Archiv fUr Entwickelungsmechanik der Organismen since then he has delivered many lectures in Great Britain and the United States, including his famous Gifford Lectures for 1907-1908 on The Science and Philosophy of the Organism and last year he was elected President of the Society for Psychical Research, 1 the first German in that distinguished succession. his long friendship should earn a particu larly warm welcome for a translation of one of Dr Drieschs best-known and most valu able works. The text is substantially that 1 Dr Driesch has since been re-elected as President for the present year. vi MIND AND BODY of the third German edition but Dr Driesch has revised my translation and added a few passages, so that the present may in effect be regarded as a new edition. Iam also indebted to Dr Driesch for checking the Bibliography and for sending me particulars of a few items overlooked by me. As is well known, it is not always easy to get an exact English equivalent for German psychological terms. In the present transla tion, the greatest difficulty has been caused by Dr Driesch s constant use of bewusst haben and in various tenses. He desires to convey by this term the act of consciously having something but as this phrase is rather cumbersome when constantly used, the publishers have thought it preferable that I should use a variety of periphrases to get the same emphasis in English. In general, technical terms of psychology and philosophy have been as far as possible avoided. TH. B. LONDON 6th June 1927 PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION THIS little book is not a text-book of psychology. It is exclusively con cerned with one particular psycho logical problem, a problem, however, that stands at the very centre of psychology. The relations between mind and body are analysed that is to say, the following three problems are successively raised What is mind What is the body What are the relations between mind and body But it is only the third problem which is extensively dealt with the first two are only briefly defined. I am of opinion that normal psychology is fully sufficient to decide this third question refute so-called parallelism, and establish the theory of interaction. And for this very reason I have left out all abnormal pheno mena, though well aware that a good deal more in favour of my results might have been gained from them. If the chief results may vli viii MIND AND BODY already be achieved along normal lines, so much the better. For in thiscase those who still have a hesitating or even a negative attitude towards abnormal phenomena and who might become suspicious on finding them mentioned, may be forced to accept my conclusions without hesitation when they find themselves moving upon well-established 1 official ground. My personal conviction is that abnormal psychology, and psychical research in par ticular, is the most important part of all psychology. There will, as I hope, be a good many readers who know this...