Institutes of education : Comprising an introduction to rational psychology, designed (partly) as a text-book for universities and colleges / Simon Somerville Laurie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Laurie, Simon Somerville, 1829- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Educational psychology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 272 pages)

Other Title:

Institutes of education

Place of Publication:

London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1892.

Summary:

"I began this book as a Handbook for the students of my own class. It grew in the course of production. I felt that I could be of most service to students, and perhaps also to Lecturers on Education, if I printed in full the more abstract portions of my argument--those, namely, which dealt with the philosophy of method. The result is that the volume is more than a Handbook and less than a Treatise. I have used the term on the title page, "rational psychology," to distinguish my point of view. Doubtless it might be maintained that no one should in these days attempt any philosophy of mind until empirical psychology has completed its microscopic task, and psycho-physics has said its last word. This would be to strike dumb all but the devotees of physical experimentation, while they themselves do not hesitate to travel outside their peculiar field, and commit themselves to speculative opinions (e.g. freedom of the Will) which contain implicit in them a whole metaphysical system. It will be granted that the uncorrelated phenomena of consciousness, which empirical psychology offers us, cannot in itself yield a theory of knowledge, much less a philosophy of life. There must be some principle, idea (call it what you will), which correlates and unifies. And until that principle emerges out of the laboratory (if that is to be its birthplace), we may be allowed our own thoughts as to its probable whereabouts. In any case a writer on the theory of Education is really writing at once a theory of life and a treatise De emendatione intellectus, and he cannot dispense with a rational and rationalised scheme of mind, be it right or wrong. He will be thankful for all that physiology and physics can give him; but meanwhile, and until better advised, he must follow his own course. What I have to say is a practical application of my books on Metaphysics and Ethics. After all, psycho-physics can never be more than physics, though it may throw some light on the characteristics, as well as the conditions, of sensational elements. The notes at the ends of some of the lectures, and the whole of the Appendix, are to be omitted by students of Education. They are written chiefly for my own satisfaction, to justify and supplement the text; but they are not needed for the understanding of it. To the general student of philosophy they may be interesting. It is quite unnecessary, in my opinion, to carry students of Education into all the details of Logic, Psychology, Ethics, and Physiology. It is necessary, however, that the philosophy which they study should be seen to be truly the Science of the Art. Accordingly, students have to get a firm hold, by the help of their instructors, of the fundamental principles which exhibit the nature and growth of mind. Everything which diverts their attention from this is useless, so far as the science and art of Education are concerned"--Preface.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.