E. G. Boring’s History of Experimental Psychology continues to dominate the historiography of psychology (with some revisions). This article challenges the revised standard account on several points. It shows (1) that psychology has variously been considered a part of natural science from antiquity; (2) that Wundt considered psychology to be an autonomous discipline, distinct from philosophy; (3) that Wundt and Boring overemphasized the theoretical discontinuity between the “old” and “new” psychologies; and (4) that several major figures in the expansion of psychology in America were not antimetaphysical. What is called the “founding” of psychology as a science in the late nineteenth century was really the initial stages in the transformation of an existing scientific discipline through expanded application of experimental techniques, a transformation that took more than a half-century to complete.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Fall 1997
September 03 1997
Wundt and Psychology as Science: Disciplinary Transformations
Gary Hatfield
Gary Hatfield
University of Pennsylvania
Search for other works by this author on:
Gary Hatfield
University of Pennsylvania
Online ISSN: 1530-9274
Print ISSN: 1063-6145
©1997 by The University of Chicago. All reserved.
1997
The University of Chicago. All reserved.
Perspectives on Science (1997) 5 (3): 349–382.
Citation
Gary Hatfield; Wundt and Psychology as Science: Disciplinary Transformations. Perspectives on Science 1997; 5 (3): 349–382. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00531
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionEmail alerts
Advertisement
Cited By
Related Articles
Switching Gestalts on Gestalt Psychology: On the Relation between Science and Philosophy
Perspectives on Science (July,2007)
Metrics of Experience: August Endell's Phenomenology of Architecture
Grey Room (July,2010)
Making the Physical Real in the Psychical: How Intoxicants Intervened in the Formation of the Biological Subject in the Nineteenth Century
Perspectives on Science (June,2023)
Co-citations in context: Disciplinary heterogeneity is relevant
Quantitative Science Studies (February,2020)
Related Book Chapters
Wilhelm Wundt
Through the Rearview Mirror: Historical Reflections on Psychology
The Birth of Modern Psychology: Wilhelm Wundt and William James
A History of Modern Experimental Psychology: From James and Wundt to Cognitive Science
Disciplinary Neuroethics
Bioethics and Brains: A Disciplined and Principled Neuroethics
The Philosophical Foundations of Disciplinary Autonomy
How Knowledge Grows: The Evolutionary Development of Scientific Practice