DOCSLIB.ORG

Sensibility, Sympathy & Nervous Diseases 1750–1800

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sensibility, Sympathy & Nervous Diseases 1750–1800 1 The Birth of a Problem 1. The Eighteenth-century Background: Sensibility, Sympathy & Nervous Diseases 1750–1800 Bynum1 has characterized the second half of the eighteenth century as a period in which the hold of Hippocratic humoralism was being eroded and the importance of the nervous system in health and disease increasingly emphasized. This shift was played out in writings on sensibility and sympathy, some of the most famous of which will be briefly summarized as background to our period of interest. Sensibility Rey is quite clear that ‘sensibility was a physiological concept before it was a psychological or aesthetic one’2 while Mullan 3 highlights the shared vocabulary and, by implication, the interdependence of the literary and medical fields at mid-century. Much can be made of the fact that the author of The English Malady of 1733,4 George Cheyne, was the physician and friend of Samuel Richardson, the novelist of sentiment. Both wrote of sensibility as a blessing and a curse, a result of progress, a sign of intellect and refinement, yet a feature that could take a person close to insanity. Sensibility was also of new importance as the starting point for epistemology in Locke’s empiricism and Condillac’s sensualism. But, according to Rey, it was the precise definition and the beginnings of measurement of it that were to prove of greatest heuristic value. The starting point of this endeavour is generally taken to be Albrecht von Haller’s 1752 lectures to George II’s ‘Royal Society’ in Göttingen. 5 Haller defined sensibility as follows: I call that a sensible part of the human body, which on being touched transmits the impression of it to the soul; and in brutes, in which the existence of a soul is not so clear, I call those parts sensible, the Irritation of which occasions evident signs of pain and disquiet in the animal. 6 Thus sensibility was a property of a body part. Some parts, such as 25 The Birth of a Problem bone marrow and tendons, did not possess it. Note that from this famous beginning, pain was taken to be the exemplar of sensibility. Both Robert Whytt in Edinburgh and the Montpellier Vitalists objected to Haller’s definition. Whytt regarded sensibility as a property of the brain and spinal cord rather than peripheral nerves. This was for metaphysical, if not theological, reasons according to French7 and Brazier. 8 Whytt has been depicted as an Animist, arguing for the intervention of an immaterial soul in physiological processes. He was most reluctant to endow mere peripheral nerves with the ‘sentient principle’, though he did concede that the spinal cord had it. The latter was a conclusion based on observation of decapitated animals and pithed frogs. The Montpellier Vitalists insisted that the whole body has sensibility by virtue of being alive. They could not accept Haller’s view that certain parts lacked it. They were also very aware that the conditions of Haller’s vivisections might have affected his findings. For example, the pain of a skin incision might obscure the sensibility of the exposed part. 9 Cullen’s concept of sensibility was similar to that of his Edinburgh forbear, Whytt. He too ‘placed’ sensibility in the brain and spinal cord rather than peripheral body parts. However, Lawrence 10 has convincingly pointed out an additional crucial influence on Cullen’s account of sensation from the Scottish philosopher David Hume. Cullen divided mental events into sensations and ideas. Sensations, like Humean ‘Impressions’, were states of feeling as opposed to Ideas, which were the faint images of these in thought. Sensations were fully determined states of feeling which presented irresistibly to the subject’s consciousness. However, ideas came and went from attention, with or without the subject’s volition, as imaginings and memories. Cullen split sensations further according to their origin. They might arise from external events (e.g. the cut of a knife) or by internal events (e.g. the passions or emotions) coming to attention. He mentioned a number of factors involved in determining sensations, freely mixing variables as diverse as the physical condition of the nerves and the subject’s level of attentiveness. Painful experience generated fear and aversion and influenced mood. ‘Sensation then...was the basis of the whole of Cullen’s physiology and epistemology’. 11 That Cullen derived such a complex theory of perception from Hume may surprise those familiar with empiricist readings of the latter’s philosophy. However, the proximity of Humean ‘Impressions’ to the ‘sense data’ of logical positivism was probably overstated in early twentieth-century histories of philosophy for polemical reasons. Across the Channel, Condillac’s Traité des Sensations of 175412 26.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • WAS SUMAROKOV a LOCKEAN SENSUALIST? on Locke's Reception in Eighteenth-Century Russia
    Part One. Sumarokov and the Literary Process of His Time 8 WAS SUMAROKOV A LOCKEAN SENSUALIST? On Locke’s Reception in Eighteenth-Century Russia Despite the fact that Locke occupied a central place in European En- lightenment thought, his works were little known in Russia. Locke is often listed among those important seventeenth-century figures including Ba- con, Spinoza, Gassendi, and Hobbes, whose ideas formed the intellectual background for the Petrine reforms; Prokopovich, Kantemir, Tatishchev and perhaps Peter himself were acquainted with Locke’s ideas, but for most Russians in the eighteenth century Locke was little more than an illustrious name. Locke’s one book that did have a palpable impact was his Some Thoughts Concerning Education, translated by Nikolai Popovskii from a French version, published in 1759 and reprinted in 1788.1 His draft of a textbook on natural science was also translated, in 1774.2 Yet though Locke as pedagogue was popular, his reception in Russia, as Marc Raeff has noted, was overshadowed by the then current “infatuation with Rousseau’s pedagogical ideas.”3 To- ward the end of the century some of Locke’s philosophical ideas also held an attraction for Russian Sentimentalists, with their new interest in subjective 1 The edition of 1760 was merely the 1759 printing with a new title page (a so- called “titul’noe izdanie”). See the Svodnyi katalog russkli knigi grazhdanskoi pechati, 5 vols. (Мoscow: Gos. biblioteka SSSR imeni V. I. Lenina, 1962–674), II, 161–2, no. 3720. 2 Elements of Natural Philosophy, translated from the French as Pervonachal’nyia osno va niia fiziki (Svodnyi katalog, II, 62, no.
    [Show full text]
  • Hegel and Aristotle
    This page intentionally left blank HEGEL AND ARISTOTLE Hegel is, arguably, the most difficult of all philosophers. To find a way through his thought, interpreters have usually approached him as though he were developing Kantian and Fichtean themes. This book is the first to demonstrate in a systematic way that it makes much more sense to view Hegel’s idealism in relation to the metaphysical and epis- temological tradition stemming from Aristotle. This book offers an account of Hegel’s idealism and in particular his notions of reason, subjectivity, and teleology, in light of Hegel’s inter- pretation, discussion, assimilation, and critique of Aristotle’s philoso- phy. It is the first systematic analysis comparing Hegelian and Aris- totelian views of system and history; being, metaphysics, logic, and truth; nature and subjectivity; spirit, knowledge, and self-knowledge; ethics and politics. In addition, Hegel’s conception of Aristotle’s phi- losophy is contrasted with alternative conceptions typical of his time and ours. No serious student of Hegel can afford to ignore this major new in- terpretation. Moreover, because it investigates with enormous erudi- tion the relation between two giants of the Western philosophical tra- dition, this book will speak to a wider community of readers in such fields as history of philosophy and history of Aristotelianism, meta- physics and logic, philosophy of nature, psychology, ethics, and politi- cal science. Alfredo Ferrarin is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Boston University. MODERN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY General Editor Robert B. Pippin, University of Chicago Advisory Board Gary Gutting, University of Notre Dame Rolf-Peter Horstmann, Humboldt University, Berlin Mark Sacks, University of Essex This series contains a range of high-quality books on philosophers, top- ics, and schools of thought prominent in the Kantian and post-Kantian European tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sensualistic Philosophy of the Nineteenth Century
    THE SENSUALISTIC PHILOSOPHY THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, CONSIDERED ROBERT L. DABNEY, D.D., LL.D., PROFESSOR IN DIVINITY IN THE UNION THEOLOGICA\. SEMINARY, OF THE PRESBYTER1AH CHURCH OF THB SOUTH PRINCE EDWARD, VA. EDINBURGHl T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 1876. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. THE ISSUE STATED, i II. REVIEW OF THE SENSUALISTIC PHILOSOPHY OF THE PREVIOUS CENTURY. HOBBES, LOCKE, CONDIL- LAC, HELVETIUS, ST. LAMBERT, ... 7 III. ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN MIND, . .52 IV. SENSUALISTIC ETHICS OF GREAT BRITAIN, . 85 V. POSITIVISM, 93 VI. EVOLUTION THEORY, 107 VII. PHYSIOLOGICAL MATERIALISM, . -131 VIII. SPIRITUALITY OF THE MIND, .... 137 IX. EVOLUTION THEORY MATERIALISTIC, THEREFORE FALSE, 165 X. VALIDITY OF A-PRIORI NOTIONS, . 208 XI. ORIGIIJ OF A-PRIORI NOTIONS, . 245 XII. REFUTATION OF SENSUALISTIC ETHICS, . 287 XIII. PHILOSOPHY OF THE SUPERNATURAL, . 337 .13.15892 SENSUALISTIC PHILOSOPHY. CHAPTER I. THE ISSUE STATED. TT^NGLISHMEN and Americans frequently use the ^ word "sensualist" to describe one in whom the animal appetites are predominant. We shall see that it is a just charge against the Sensualistic philosophy, that it not seldom inclines its advocates to this dominion of beastly lusts. But it is not from this fact that we draw the phrase by which we name it. The Sensualistic philosophy is that theory, which resolves all the powers of the human spirit into the functions of the five senses, and modifications thereof. It is the philosophy which finds all its rudiments in sensation. It not only denies to the spirit of man all innate ideas, but all innate powers of originating ideas, save those given us from our senses.
    [Show full text]
  • Peirce, Pragmatism, and the Right Way of Thinking
    SANDIA REPORT SAND2011-5583 Unlimited Release Printed August 2011 Peirce, Pragmatism, and The Right Way of Thinking Philip L. Campbell Prepared by Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 and Livermore, California 94550 Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.. Approved for public release; further dissemination unlimited. Issued by Sandia National Laboratories, operated for the United States Department of Energy by Sandia Corporation. NOTICE: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily con- stitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors. Printed in the United States of America. This report has been reproduced directly from the best available copy.
    [Show full text]
  • Unity of Mind, Temporal Awareness, and Personal Identity
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE THE LEGACY OF HUMEANISM: UNITY OF MIND, TEMPORAL AWARENESS, AND PERSONAL IDENTITY DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Philosophy by Daniel R. Siakel Dissertation Committee: Professor David Woodruff Smith, Chair Professor Sven Bernecker Associate Professor Marcello Oreste Fiocco Associate Professor Clinton Tolley 2016 © 2016 Daniel R. Siakel DEDICATION To My mother, Anna My father, Jim Life’s original, enduring constellation. And My “doctor father,” David Who sees. “We think that we can prove ourselves to ourselves. The truth is that we cannot say that we are one entity, one existence. Our individuality is really a heap or pile of experiences. We are made out of experiences of achievement, disappointment, hope, fear, and millions and billions and trillions of other things. All these little fragments put together are what we call our self and our life. Our pride of self-existence or sense of being is by no means one entity. It is a heap, a pile of stuff. It has some similarities to a pile of garbage.” “It’s not that everything is one. Everything is zero.” Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche “Galaxies of Stars, Grains of Sand” “Rhinoceros and Parrot” ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v CURRICULUM VITAE vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION xii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I: Hume’s Appendix Problem and Associative Connections in the Treatise and Enquiry §1. General Introduction to Hume’s Science of Human Nature 6 §2. Introducing Hume’s Appendix Problem 8 §3. Contextualizing Hume’s Appendix Problem 15 §4.
    [Show full text]
  • Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Pamela Lynnette Jennings
    Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology by Pamela Lynnette Jennings A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Center for Advanced Inquiry in the Integrative Arts (CAiiA) School of Computing - · Faculty of Technology .: · ·· · March 2006 Pamela Lynnette Jennings Interactive Technologies for the Public Sphere Toward a Theory of Critical Creative Technology Executive Summary Digital media cultural practices continue to address the social, cultural and aesthetic contexts of the global information economy, perhaps better called ecology, by inventing new methods and genres that encourage interactive engagement, collaboration, exploration and learning. The theoretical framework for creative critical technology evolved from the confluence of the arts, human computer interaction, and critical theories of technology. Molding this nascent theoretical framework from these seemingly disparate disciplines was a reflexive process where .the influence of each component on each other spiraled into the theory and practice as illustrated through the Constmcted Narratives project. Research that evolves from an arts perspective encourages experimental processes of making as a method for defining research principles. The traditional reductionist approach to research requires that all confounding variables are eliminated or silenced using methods of statistics. However, that noise in the data, those confounding variables provide the rich context, media, and processes by which creative practices thrive. As research in the arts gains recognition for its contributions of new knowledge, the traditional reductive practice in search of general principles will be respectfully joined by methodologies for defining living principles that celebrate and build from the confounding variables, the data noise.
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzsche's Positivism
    Nietzsche’s Positivism Nadeem J. Z. Hussain 1. Introduction One strong strain in contemporary Anglo-American secondary literature on Nietzsche would like to take his favourable comments about science, scientific methodology, the results of particular sciences, the role of scientists, and the senses as grounds for interpreting him as similar in many ways to contemporary naturalists.1 According to such a reading, Nietzsche has a basically empiricist epistemology and has ontological commitments that are more or less straight- forwardly read off of whatever he takes to be the best empirically supported account of the world. This interpretation is taken to gain support from the strong presence of materialism in Nietzsche’s historical context. However, this view does run into some problems. Nietzsche often suggests that the theories of scientists do not straightforwardly report how the world is. Thus he says: It is perhaps just dawning on five or six minds that physics, too, is only an interpretation and exegesis of the world (to suit us, if I may say so!) and not a world-explanation; but insofar as it is based on belief in the senses, it is regarded as more, and for a long time to come must be regarded as more—namely, as an explanation. (BGE 14)2 Or consider the following passage: One should not wrongly reify ‘cause’ and ‘effect’, as the natural scientists do (and whoever, like them, now ‘naturalizes’ in his thinking), according to the prevailing mechanical doltishness which makes the cause press and push until it ‘effects’ its end; one should use ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ only as pure concepts, that is to say, as conventional fictions for the purpose of designation and communication—not for explanation.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy and German Literature –
    PHILOSOPHY AND GERMAN LITERATURE – EDITED BY NICHOLAS SAUL University of Liverpool PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CBRU,UK West th Street, New York, NY -, USA Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC , Australia Ruiz de Alarc´on , Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town , South Africa http://www.cambridge.org C Cambridge University Press This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions ofrelevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction ofany part may take place without the written permission ofCambridge University Press. First published Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Baskerville Monotype /. pt. System LATEX ε [TB] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Philosophy and German literature – / edited by Nicholas Saul. p. cm. – (Cambridge studies in German) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN --- . German literature – History and criticism. Literature and philosophy. Philosophy, German. I. Saul, Nicholas. II. Series. PT .M . –dc ISBN hardback Contents Contributors page viii Acknowledgements x List of abbreviations xi Introduction: German literature and philosophy Nicholas Saul Criticism and experience: philosophy and literature in the German Enlightenment John A.McCarthy The pursuit ofthe subject: literature as critic and perfecter ofphilosophy – Nicholas Saul Two realisms: German literature and philosophy – John Walker Modernism and the self – Ritchie Robertson The subjects ofcommunity: aspiration, memory,resistance – Russell A.Berman Coming to terms with the past in postwar literature and philosophy Robert C.Holub Bibliography Index vii CHAPTER ONE Criticism and experience: philosophy and literature in the German Enlightenment John A.
    [Show full text]
  • Twentieth-Century French Philosophy Twentieth-Century French Philosophy
    Twentieth-Century French Philosophy Twentieth-Century French Philosophy Key Themes and Thinkers Alan D. Schrift ß 2006 by Alan D. Schrift blackwell publishing 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Alan D. Schrift to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1 2006 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schrift, Alan D., 1955– Twentieth-Century French philosophy: key themes and thinkers / Alan D. Schrift. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-3217-6 (hardcover: alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-4051-3217-5 (hardcover: alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-3218-3 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-4051-3218-3 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Philosophy, French–20th century. I. Title. B2421.S365 2005 194–dc22 2005004141 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 11/13pt Ehrhardt by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed and bound in India by Gopsons Papers Ltd The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices.
    [Show full text]
  • PHILOSOPHICAL GNOSEOLOGY and EPISTEMOLOGY Syllabus
    Emblem of Department of philosophy department PHILOSOPHICAL GNOSEOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGY Syllabus Requisites of the discipline Level of high education PhD Field of knowledge For all1 Specialty For all Educational program PhD Status of the discipline Mandatory Learning form Full-time (day-time)/ Full-time (part-time) /Distance/Mixed Semester 1st course, autumn Course scope 60 hours (13 lectures, 13 seminars) Semester control / control Examination measures Schedule Language Ukrainian Information about course Lecturer: Doctor of philosophical sciences, full professor Olexandra Rubanets, e- supervisor and lecturers mail: [email protected]; Doctor of philosophical sciences, full professor Borys Novikov, e-mail: [email protected] Seminars: Doctor of philosophical sciences, full professor Olexandra Rubanets, e- mail: [email protected]; PhD, docent Svitlana Balakirova Course placement ECampus KPI Curriculum of the discipline 1. Description of the discipline, its purpose, subject of study and learning outcomes The subject of the discipline is fundamental philosophical knowledge of basic concepts that reveal the essence and features of knowledge production in science, characteristic of the modern stage of its development, modern cognitive processes, reveal the development of methodology as a component of modern science, provide basic philosophical knowledge about the nature of scientific and scientific- technical creativity, reveal the role of science as the core of the national innovation system and reveal the impact of science on rationality in society and the development of modern social strategies. The purpose of the course is to master the basic concepts of philosophical gnoseology and epistemology, fundamental philosophical knowledge for the development of various types of scientific thinking, scientific and scientific-technical creativity and information processing.
    [Show full text]
  • Maine De Biran's Leibniz
    This is a repository copy of A Universal and Absolute Spiritualism: Maine de Biran's Leibniz. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/97861/ Version: Accepted Version Book Section: Dunham, J. (2016) A Universal and Absolute Spiritualism: Maine de Biran's Leibniz. In: Meacham, D. and Spadola, J., (eds.) The Relationship between the Physical and the Moral in Man. Bloomsbury . ISBN 9781472579676 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ A Universal and Absolute Spiritualism Maine de Biran’s Leibniz Jeremy Dunham (University of Sheffield) In France during the nineteenth century the production of new editions, interpretations, and expositions of early modern philosophical texts was a flourishing activity. However, it is important to recognise when examining the scholarly works of this period that such interpretation and exposition was almost never produced without an agenda. A favourable interpretation of one of the giants of early modern philosophy that shows them to be the natural ‘father’ of one’s own philosophical perspective could act as a significant legitimation of this view and, consequently, could become a weapon in philosophical combat.
    [Show full text]
  • The Reception of Ernst Mach in the School of Brentano
    DENIS FISETTE The Reception of Ernst Mach in the School of Brentano Franz Brentano is one of the most infl uential fi gures in the philosophy of the late nineteenth century. Brentano and his successors have established a philosophical program which had a decisive impact on the history of philosophy in Austria. This program stands out clearly in several lectures delivered by Brentano during his stay in Vienna, particularly in his inaugural address at the University of Vienna (Brentano 1929) in which Brentano outlines the program that he systematically develops in his Psychology from an empirical Standpoint (2009). This program was the result of Brentano’s research in Würzburg (1866–1873) which has been partly inspired by Auguste Comte’s positive philosophy and John Stuart Mill’s empiricism (Münch 1989; Fisette 2018). During his stay in Vienna, Brentano’s interest in pos- itivism remained intact as evidenced by his 1893–1894 lectures “Contemporary philosophical questions” in which he examines several versions of positivism, in- cluding Mach’s version. This paper is about the reception of Mach by Brentano and his students in Austria1. I shall outline the main elements of this reception, starting with Bren- tano’s evaluation, in his lectures on positivism, of Mach’s theory of sensations. Secondly, I shall comment the early reception of Mach by Brentano’s pupils in Prague. The third part bears on the close relationship that Husserl established between his phenomenology and Mach’s descriptivism. I will then briefly ex- amine Mach’s contribution to the controversy on gestalt qualities. The fifth part bears on Stumpf’s debate with Mach on psychophysical relations and I shall conclude this study with some remarks on Husserl’s criticism of Mach’s alleged logical psychologism in his Logical Investigations.
    [Show full text]