Phénomènes psychiques et analyse du langage

la réponse de Bühler et de Stumpf à l'objection de psychologisme

Janette Friedrich

Université de Genève

pp. 93-108

in: Histoire Épistémologie Langage 32 (2), 2010.

Abstract

The paper considers two different reactions to the objection of psychologism which were developed by Carl Stumpf and Karl Bühler in the frame of early 20th century psychology. The study will show how Stumpf, by developing a psychology of functions, «delegates » the analysis of the functions’ contents either to phenomenology – whose objects are the data of the senses – or to eidology – whose objects are the formations. Bühler’s originality consists in his discussion of the dynamic concordance between living beings and the world as the «place » of the psychic ; a concordance which comes about by means of semantic institutions which are the condition for, as well as the result of, psychic phenomena. Through the concept of intention, Bühler demonstrates that psychology cannot possibly grasp the specificity of its object without an analysis of linguistic phenomena.

Cited authors

Bühler Karl

Stumpf Carl