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The origins of Titchener's doctrine of meaning
Author(s) -
Evans Rand B.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(197510)11:4<334::aid-jhbs2300110403>3.0.co;2-b
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , consciousness , doctrine , psychology , epistemology , psychoanalysis , philosophy , neuroscience , theology , psychotherapist
E. B. Titchener's position on meaning was an important determinant of many of his theoretical and systematic positions. The traditional view that Titchener developed the doctrine of meaning to oppose the Würzburg work on imageless thought is rejected for a more gradual development during the 1890s. This development is represented as an outgrowth of observations concerning apperceptive consciousness and in Titchener's attempt to demonstrate that structural psychology could encompass the “psychological” aspects of functional psychology. That position of the 1890s, it is argued, made acceptance of the Würzburg findings impossible for Titchener.