Nature From Within: Gustav Theodor Fechner And His Psychophysical Worldview
by Michael Heidelberger
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004 Cloth: 978-0-8229-4210-8 | Paper: 978-0-8229-6547-3 | eISBN: 978-0-8229-7077-4 Library of Congress Classification B3237.H4513 2004 Dewey Decimal Classification 193
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887) was a German physicist, psychologist, and philosopher, best known to historians of science as the founder of psychophysics, the experimental study of the relation between mental and physical processes. Michael Heidelberger's exhaustive exploration of Fechner's writings, in relation to current issues in the field, successfully reestablishes Fechner's place in the history and philosophy of science.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Michael Heidelberger, emeritus professor of logic and philosophy at the University of Tübingen, is the author of numerous works on the philosophy of science.
Cynthia Klohr (translator) taught philosophy for many years at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. She has translated books in philosophy, psychology, the history and theory of science, human rights, music, and cultural history.
REVIEWS
"A brilliant book. . . . No historian of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German science and philosophy can afford to ignore it." —British Journal for the History of Science
“A clear, comprehensive, and rigorous treatment of the philosophical basis for Fechner’s thought, including, importantly, the way in which he was able to reconcile apparently divergent intellectual themes in his philosophical and scientific writing.” —Isis
“Almost mandatory reading as it provides many new historical insights that are quite significant for contemporary philosophy of science.” —Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook
TABLE OF CONTENTS
<Heidelberger, Contents>
<p. v, no folio, p. vii, cont'd or blank>
Contents
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Preface 000
Introduction 000
Part I
History
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter One: Life and Work 000
1.1 Ancestry and Early Years 000
1.2 Oken's and Schelling's Philosophies of Nature 000
1.3 Turning to Physics and Overcoming Philosophy of Nature 000
1.4 Herbart's Psychology 000
1.5 The Aesthetic and Romantic View of Nature 000
1.6 The Philosophy of Late Idealism 000
1.7 Beginning Philosophical Work 000
1.8 Illness 000
1.9 The Day View's Origins 000
1.10 Written Work after 1851 000
1.11 The Day View as Contrasted with the Night View 000
1.12 Fechner's Life after Recovery 000
Part II
Philosophy
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Two: Nonreductive Materialism 000
2.1 Knowing and Believing 000
2.2 Fechner's Mind-Body Theory: "The Identity View" 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Three: Philosophy of Nature 000
3.1 Philosophy of Nature and "Belief" 000
3.2 Psychical Phenomena as Functional States 000
3.3 The Day View as Scientific Identity Philosophy 000
3.4 Direct Realism: The Objective Reality of Phenomena 000
3.5 Further Implications of the Day View
Part III
Day View Science
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Four: Scientific Realism and the Reality of Atoms 000
4.1 Fechner's Early Writing on Atomism 000
4.2 The "Theory of Atoms" 000
4.3 Realism Includes Phenomenalism 000
4.4 Mach Turns to Anti-Atomism 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Five: Psychophysical Parallelism: The Mind-Body Problem 000
5.1 Psychophysical Parallelism Dates Back to the 1850s 000
5.2 Psychophysical Parallelism from Fechner to Feigl 000
5.3 Schlick and Carnap Enter the Scene 000
5.4 Psychophysical Parallelism in the United States: Herbert Feigl 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Six: Psychophysics: Measuring the Mental 000
6.1 Basic Concepts 000
6.2 The General Principle of Measurement and Measuring Sensation 000
6.3 Applying the Principle of Measurement to Gauging Sensations 000
6.4 Objections to Quantifying Psychical Phenomena 000
6.5 Ernst Mach's Theory of Measurement 000
6.6 Measurement Theory and the Day View 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Seven: Self-Organization and Irreversibility: Order Originating from Chaos 000
7.1 Life and Organic Development 000
7.2 The Philosophical and the Scientific Context 000
7.3 From Fechner to Freud and Peirce 000
7.4 Self-Organization Today 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Eight: Indeterminism: From Freedom to the Laws of Chance 000
8.1 Fechner's Indeterminism 000
8.2 Excursus I: Freedom and Physiology 000
8.3 Excursus II: Epigenesis and Philosophy of History 000
8.4 "Collective Objects" 000
8.5 From Fechner to Von Mises 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Conclusion 000
Appendix 000
Notes 000
Bibliography 000
Index 000
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Fechner, Gustav Theodor, 1801-1887
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Nature From Within: Gustav Theodor Fechner And His Psychophysical Worldview
by Michael Heidelberger
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004 Cloth: 978-0-8229-4210-8 Paper: 978-0-8229-6547-3 eISBN: 978-0-8229-7077-4
Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887) was a German physicist, psychologist, and philosopher, best known to historians of science as the founder of psychophysics, the experimental study of the relation between mental and physical processes. Michael Heidelberger's exhaustive exploration of Fechner's writings, in relation to current issues in the field, successfully reestablishes Fechner's place in the history and philosophy of science.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Michael Heidelberger, emeritus professor of logic and philosophy at the University of Tübingen, is the author of numerous works on the philosophy of science.
Cynthia Klohr (translator) taught philosophy for many years at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. She has translated books in philosophy, psychology, the history and theory of science, human rights, music, and cultural history.
REVIEWS
"A brilliant book. . . . No historian of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German science and philosophy can afford to ignore it." —British Journal for the History of Science
“A clear, comprehensive, and rigorous treatment of the philosophical basis for Fechner’s thought, including, importantly, the way in which he was able to reconcile apparently divergent intellectual themes in his philosophical and scientific writing.” —Isis
“Almost mandatory reading as it provides many new historical insights that are quite significant for contemporary philosophy of science.” —Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook
TABLE OF CONTENTS
<Heidelberger, Contents>
<p. v, no folio, p. vii, cont'd or blank>
Contents
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Preface 000
Introduction 000
Part I
History
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter One: Life and Work 000
1.1 Ancestry and Early Years 000
1.2 Oken's and Schelling's Philosophies of Nature 000
1.3 Turning to Physics and Overcoming Philosophy of Nature 000
1.4 Herbart's Psychology 000
1.5 The Aesthetic and Romantic View of Nature 000
1.6 The Philosophy of Late Idealism 000
1.7 Beginning Philosophical Work 000
1.8 Illness 000
1.9 The Day View's Origins 000
1.10 Written Work after 1851 000
1.11 The Day View as Contrasted with the Night View 000
1.12 Fechner's Life after Recovery 000
Part II
Philosophy
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Two: Nonreductive Materialism 000
2.1 Knowing and Believing 000
2.2 Fechner's Mind-Body Theory: "The Identity View" 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Three: Philosophy of Nature 000
3.1 Philosophy of Nature and "Belief" 000
3.2 Psychical Phenomena as Functional States 000
3.3 The Day View as Scientific Identity Philosophy 000
3.4 Direct Realism: The Objective Reality of Phenomena 000
3.5 Further Implications of the Day View
Part III
Day View Science
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Four: Scientific Realism and the Reality of Atoms 000
4.1 Fechner's Early Writing on Atomism 000
4.2 The "Theory of Atoms" 000
4.3 Realism Includes Phenomenalism 000
4.4 Mach Turns to Anti-Atomism 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Five: Psychophysical Parallelism: The Mind-Body Problem 000
5.1 Psychophysical Parallelism Dates Back to the 1850s 000
5.2 Psychophysical Parallelism from Fechner to Feigl 000
5.3 Schlick and Carnap Enter the Scene 000
5.4 Psychophysical Parallelism in the United States: Herbert Feigl 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Six: Psychophysics: Measuring the Mental 000
6.1 Basic Concepts 000
6.2 The General Principle of Measurement and Measuring Sensation 000
6.3 Applying the Principle of Measurement to Gauging Sensations 000
6.4 Objections to Quantifying Psychical Phenomena 000
6.5 Ernst Mach's Theory of Measurement 000
6.6 Measurement Theory and the Day View 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Seven: Self-Organization and Irreversibility: Order Originating from Chaos 000
7.1 Life and Organic Development 000
7.2 The Philosophical and the Scientific Context 000
7.3 From Fechner to Freud and Peirce 000
7.4 Self-Organization Today 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Chapter Eight: Indeterminism: From Freedom to the Laws of Chance 000
8.1 Fechner's Indeterminism 000
8.2 Excursus I: Freedom and Physiology 000
8.3 Excursus II: Epigenesis and Philosophy of History 000
8.4 "Collective Objects" 000
8.5 From Fechner to Von Mises 000
<BR><HR><BR>
<TOC>
Conclusion 000
Appendix 000
Notes 000
Bibliography 000
Index 000
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Fechner, Gustav Theodor, 1801-1887
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE