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Ethics, to deduce ethical. principles from a basis of empirical feeling. In 1822 his lectures were prohibited at Berlin, according to his own belief through the See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of Hegel with the Prussian authorities, who also prevented him from obtaining a See also:

CHAIR (in. Mid. Eng. chcere, through O. Fr. chaire or chaiere, from Lat. cathedra, later caledra, Gr. xaOi3pa, seat, cf. "cathedral"; the modern Fr. form chaise, a chair, has been adopted in English with a particular meaning as a form of carriage; chaire

chair from the Saxon See also:

government. He retired to See also:

GOTTINGEN

Gottingen, lectured there for some years, and was then allowed to return to Berlin. In 1832 he received an See also:

APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

appointment as See also:

PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

professor extraordinarius in the university, which he continued to hold till his See also:

DEATH

death. On the 1st of See also:

March 1854 he disappeared, and more than two years later his remains were found in the See also:

canal near See also:

CHARLOTTENBURG

Charlottenburg. There was some suspicion that he had committed See also:

SUICIDE (from Lat. sui, of oneself, and cidium, from cued ere, to kill)

suicide in a See also:

fit of See also:

MENTAL

mental depression. The distinctive peculiarity of Beneke's See also:

SYSTEM

system consists, first, in the firmness with which he maintained that in empirical See also:

psychology is to be found the basis of all philosophy; and secondly, in his rigid treatment of mental phenomena by the genetic method. According to him, the perfected mind is a development from See also:

SIMPLE

simple elements, and the first problem of philosophy is the determination of these elements and of the processes by which the development takes See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place. In his Neue Psychologie (essays iii., viii. and ix.), he defined his position with regard to his predecessors and contemporaries, and both there and in the introduction to his Lehr See also:

buck signalized as the two See also:

GREAT

great stages in the progress of psychology the negation of innate ideas by See also:

Locke, and of faculties, in the See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary acceptation of the See also:

TERM

term, by See also:

HERBART, JOHANN FRIEDRICH (1776-1841)

Herbart.

The next step was his own; he insisted that psychology must be treated as one of the natural sciences. As is the See also:

case with them, its content is given by experience alone, and differs from theirs only in being the See also:

OBJECT

object of the See also:

INTERNAL

internal as opposed. to the See also:

EXTERNAL

external sense. But by this Beneke in no See also:

wise meant a psychology founded on See also:

PHYSIOLOGY (from Gr. 4 i s, nature, and koyos, discourse)

physiology. These two sciences, in his See also:

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

opinion, had quite distinct provinces and gave no mutual assistance. Just as little help is to be expected from the See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science of the See also:

BODY

body as from See also:

MATHEMATICS (Gr. /saBnµar1Kil, Sc. vOcvn or E7rlQTt'µn; from p iN.La, "learning" or "science ")

mathematics and See also:

metaphysics, both of which had been pressed by Herbart into the service of psychology. The true method of study is that applied with so much success in the See also:

PHYSICAL

physical sciences—critical examination of the given experience, and reference of it to ultimate causes, which may not be themselves perceived, but are nevertheless hypotheses necessary to See also:

account for the facts. (See on method, Neue Psych., See also:

ESSAY, ESSAYIST (Fr. essai, Late Lat. exagium, a weighing or balance; exigere, to examine; the term in general meaning any trial or effort)

essay i.) Starting from the two assumptions that there is nothing, or at least no formed product, innate in the mind, and that definite faculties do not originally exist, and from the fact that our minds nevertheless actually have a definite content and definite modes of See also:

ACTION

action, Beneke proceeds to See also:

state somewhat dogmatically his scientifically verifiable hypotheses as to the See also:

PRIMITIVE

primitive See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of the soul and the See also:

LAWS

laws according to which it develops. Originally the soul is possessed of or is an immense variety of See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers, faculties or forces (conceptions which Beneke, in opposition to Herbart, holds to be metaphysically justifiable), differing from one another only in tenacity, vivacity, receptivity and grouping. These primitive immaterial forces, so closely See also:

UNITED

united as to See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form but one being (essence), acquire definiteness or form through the action upon them of stimuli or excitants from the See also:

OUTER

outer See also:

WORLD

world. This action of external impressions which are appropriated by the internal powers is the first fundamental See also:

PROCESS

process in the See also:

genesis of the completed mind. If the See also:

union of impression and See also:

FACULTY (through the French, from the Lat. facultas, ability to do anything, from facilis, easy, facere, to do; another form of the word in Lat. facilitas, facility, ease, keeps the original meaning)

faculty be sufficiently strong, consciousness (not self-consciousness) arises, and definite sensations and perceptions begin to be formed. These primitive sensations, however, are not to be identified with the sensations of the See also:

SPECIAL

special senses, for each of these senses is a system of many powers which have grown into a definite unity, have been educated by experience.

From ordinary experience it must be concluded that a second fundamental process is incessantly going on, viz. the formation of new powers. which takes place principally during See also:

SLEEP (0. Eng. slcepan; Ger. schlafen; cf. Lat. labi, to glide, and " slip ")

sleep. The third and most important process results from the fact that the See also:

COMBINATION (Lat. combinare, to combine)

combination between stimulus and See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power may be weak or strong; if weak, then the two elements are said to be movable, and they may flow over from one to another of the already formed psychical products. Any formed faculty does not cease to exist on the removal of its stimulus; in virtue of its fundamental See also:

PROPERTY

property, tenacity, it sinks back as a trace (See also:

SPUR (A.S. spura, spora, related to spornan, spurnan, to kick, spurn; cf. M.H.G. sporn, mod. Ger. Sporn)

Spur) into unconsciousness, whence it may be recalled by the application to it of another stimulus, or by the attraction towards it of some of the movable elements or newly-formed See also:

ORIGINAL

original powers. These traces and the flowing over of the movable elements are the most important conceptions in Beneke's psychology; by means of them he gives a rationale of See also:

REPRODUCTION

reproduction and association, and strives to show that all the formed faculties are simply developments from traces of earlier processes. Lastly, similar forms, according to the degree of their similarity, attract one another or tend to form closer combinations. All psychical phenomena are explicable by the relation of impression and power, and by the flow of movable elements; the whole process of mental development is nothing but the result of the action and interaction of the above simple laws. In See also:

general this growth may be said to take the direction of rendering more and more definite by repetition and attraction of like to like the originally indefinite activities of the See also:

PRIMARY

primary faculties. Thus the sensations of the special senses are gradually formed from the primary sensuous feelings (sinnliche Enzpfndungen); concepts are formed from intuitions of individuals by the attraction of the See also:

COMMON

common elements, and the consequent flow towards them of movable forms. See also:

JUDGMENT

Judgment is the springing into consciousness of a concept alongside of an in-tuition, or of a higher concept alongside of a See also:

LOWER

lower. Reasoning is merely a more complex judgment. Nor are there special faculties of judging or reasoning. The understanding is simply the See also:

mass of concepts lying in the background of unconsciousness, ready to be called up and to flow with force towards anything closely connected with them.

Even memory is not a special faculty; it is simply the fundamental property of tenacity possessed by the original faculties. The very distinction between the great classes, Knowledge, Feeling and Will, may be referred to elementary See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences in the original relations of faculty and impression. This is the groundwork of Beneke's philosophy. It should be carefully compared with the association psychology of See also:

MODERN

modern See also:

BRITISH

British thinkers, most of whose results and processes will be found there worked into a comprehensive system (see ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS). In See also:

LOGIC (Xoy1K7, sc. rixvrt, the art of reasoning)

logic, metaphysics and ethics Beneke's speculations are naturally dependent on his psychology. The special value of Beneke's See also:

WORKS

works, as has been already said, consists in the many specimens of acute psychological analysisscattered throughout them. As a See also:

COMPLETE

complete explanation of psychical facts, the theory seems defective. The original hypotheses, See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to Beneke, on which the whole depends, are hastily assumed and See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest on a clumsy See also:

MECHANICAL

mechanical See also:

METAPHOR

metaphor. As is the case with all empirical theories of mental development, the higher categories or notions, which are apparently shown to result from the simple elements, are really presupposed at every step. Particularly um satisfactory is the account of consciousness, which is said to arise from the union of impression and faculty. The See also:

NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

necessity of consciousness for any mental action whatsoever is apparently granted, but the conditions involved in it are never discussed or mentioned. The same defect appears in the account of ethical judgment; no amount of empirical fact can ever yield the notion of See also:

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty.

His results have found See also:

ACCEPTANCE (Lat. acceptare, frequentative form of accipere, to receive)

acceptance mainly with See also:

PRACTICAL

practical teachers. Undoubtedly his See also:

minute See also:

ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

analysis of temperament and careful exposition of the means whereby the See also:

young, unformed mind may be trained are of See also:

INFINITE (from Lat. in, not, finis, end or limit; cf. findere, to deave)

infinite value; but the truth of many of his doctrines on these points lends no support to the fundamental hypotheses, from which, indeed, they might be almost entirely severed. Beneke was a most prolific writer, and besides the works mentioned above, published large See also:

TREATISES

treatises in the several departments of philosophy, both pure and as applied to See also:

EDUCATION

education and ordinary See also:

LIFE

life. A complete See also:

list of his writings will be found in the appendix to Dressler's edition of the Lehrbuch der Psychologie als Naturwissenschaft (1861). The See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief are :—Psychologische Skizzen (1825, 1827); Lehrbuch der Psychologie (1832); Metaphysik and Religionsphilosophie (184o); See also:

Die neue Psychologie (1845); Pragmatische Psychologie See also:

ODER (Lat. Viadua; Slavonic, Vjodr)

oder Seelenlehre in der Anwendung auf das Leben (1832). Among German writers, who, though not professed followers of Beneke, have been largely influenced by him, may be mentioned See also:

UEBERWEG, FRIEDRICH (1826-1871)

Ueberweg and Karl See also:

FORTLAGE, KARL (,8o6-1881)

Fortlage (1806-1881). In See also:

England, perhaps, the only writer who shows traces of acquaintance with his works is J. D. See also:

MORELL, JOHN DANIEL (1816-1891)

Morell (Introd. to Mental Philosophy). The most eminent members of the school are J. G. Dressler (whose Beneke oder Seelenlehre als Naturwissenschaft is an admirable exposition), Fried.

Dittes and G. Raue. The compendium by the last-named author passed through four See also:

EDITIONS

editions in See also:

Germany, and has been translated into See also:

French, Flemish and English. The English See also:

TRANSLATION

translation, Elements of Psychology (1871), gives a lucid and succinct view of the whole system. Among more See also:

RECENT

recent works on Beneke are O. E. See also:

HUMMEL, JOHANN NEPOMUK (1778-1837)

Hummel, Die Unterrichtslehre Benekes (See also:

LEIPZIG

Leipzig, 1885) ; on his ethical theory, C. H. Th. See also:

KUHN, FRANZ FELIX ADALBERT (1812–1881)

Kuhn, Die Sittenlehre F. E. Benekes (1892); Joh.

Friedrich, F. E. Beneke (See also:

WIESBADEN

Wiesbaden, 1898, with See also:

BIOGRAPHY (from the Gr. (3ios, life, and yp&4 , writing)

biography and list of works); See also:

OTTO

Otto Gramzow, F. E. Benekes Leben and Philos. (See also:

BERN (Fr. Berne)

Bern, 1899, with full bibliography); on his theory of knowledge, H. Renner, Benekes Erkenntnistheorie (Halle, 1902); on his metaphysics, Die Metaphysik Benekes, by A. Wandschneider (Berlin, 1903) ; Brandt, Beneke, the See also:

Man and His Philosophy (New See also:

York, 1895) ; Falckenberg, Hist. of Phil. (Eng. trans., 1895); and H. See also:

HOFFDING, HARALD (1843– )

Hoffding, Hist. of Mod. Phil. vol. ii. (Eng. trans., 1900).

(R.

End of Article: BENEKE, FRIEDRICH EDUARD (1798-1854)

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