After reading Webster´s book "Why Freud was wrong" I became interested in those works of Fechner not related to the well known percepcion stuff but concerning, let´s say, mystical issues, such as the hypotetical design of a superior being ("angel"). I have checked all the history of psychology books within my grasp (about 20) and conducted a search on the web but nothing popped out. Anyone knows about this line of work of Fechner? Thank you in advance

-- Ricardo Marcos Pautassi (rpautassi@immf.uncor.edu), March 01, 2004

Answers

Fechner's two endevours were in fact related. I have followed Edna Heidbreder in asserting the following:

"Fechner's major preoccupation during his 'depressive phase' was with finding a way to establish a relationship between the seemingly separate physical-scientific and the spiritual-ethical world views. In considering this issue, he was influenced by Schelling (1775-1854) who (like Fichte) was part of that whole turn of events in philosophy which followed from Kant's supposedly unresolvable antinomies."

http://www.comnet.ca/~pballan/section3(210).htm http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schelling/ http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/essays/essay4a.htm

-- Paul F. Ballantyne (pballan@comnet.ca), March 01, 2004.

I've researched this topic in depth, and could send you a copy of part of an unpublished book chapter, if you'd like. My work is based on the following sources:

Bakan, D. (1992). On Fechner's The little book of life after death. Journal of Pastoral Counseling, 27, 32-43.

Fechner, G. T. (1836). Das Büchlein vom Leben nach demTode. Dresden: Ch. F. Grimmer.

Fechner, G. T. (1846). Über das höchste Gut. Leipzig: Breigkopf & Härtel.

Fechner, G. T. (1848). Nanna, oder über das Seelenleben des Pflanzen. Leipzig: L. Voss.

Fechner, G. T. (1851). Zend-Avesta oder über die Dinge des Himmels und des Jenseits. Vom Standpunkt der Naturbetrachtung. 3 Vols. Leipzig: L. Voss.

Fechner, G. T. (1861). Über die Seelenfrage. Ein Gang durch die sichtbare Welt, um die unsichbare zu finden. Leipzig: C. F. Amelang.

Fechner, G. T. (1863). Die drei Motive und Grunde des Glaubens. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.

Fechner, G. T. (1879). Die Tagenansicht gegenüber der Nachtansicht. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.

Fechner, G. T. (1882). On life after death (H. Wernekke, Trans.). London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. (Original German work published 1836)

Fechner, G. T. (1904). The little book of life after death (M. C. Wadsworth, Trans.). Boston: Little, Brown. (Original work published 1836)

Fechner, G. T. (1948). Religion of a scientist: Selections from Gustav Th. Fechner (W. Lowrie, Ed. & Trans.). New York: Pantheon.

Fechner, G. T. (1969). The comparative anatomy of angels. A sketch by Dr. Mises: 1825. (H. Corbet & M. E. Marshall, Trans.). Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 2, 135-151. (Original German work published 1825)

Fleming, A. B. (1990). Psychology, medicine, and religion: Early twentieth-century American psychotherapy (1905-1909). Dissertation Abstracts International, 50-11B, 5313. (University Microfilms No. DEX-90-08-537).

Harari, C. (Ed.). (1992). The little book of life after death by Gustav Fechner. Including an introduction by William James with contemporary essays and commentaries. Journal of Pastoral Counseling, 27, 1-78.

James, W. (1977). Concerning Fechner. In J. J. McDermott (Ed.), The writings of William James: A comprehensive review (pp. 529-545). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1909)

Marshall, M. E. (1969a). Gustav Fechner, Dr. Mises, and the comparative anatomy of angels. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 5, 39-58

Marshal, M. E. (1969b). William James, Gustav Fechner, and the question of dogs and cats in the library. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 5, 304-312.

Marshall, M. E. (1982). Physics, metaphysics, and Fechner. In W. R. Woodward & M. G. Ash (Eds.), The problematic science: Psychology in nineteenth century thought (pp. 65-87). New York: Praeger.

Woodward, W. R. (1972). Fechner's panpsychism: A scientific solution to the mind-body problem. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 8, 367-386. Worcester, E. (1908). The living word. New York: Moffat, Yard.

Wulff, D. M. (1991). Psychology of religion: Classic and contemporary views. New York: John Wiley.

Zend-Avesta, Zoroasters lebendiges Wort, worin die Lehren und Meinungen von Gott, Welt, Natur, und Menschen, imgleichen die Cärimonien des heiligen Dienstes der Parsen. u.s.f., aufbehalten sind. 3 vols. in 1. (1786). (J. F. Kleuker, Trans.). Riga: J. F. Hartknoch. (Original work published 1776)

The Zend-Avesta. 3 vols. (1972). (J. Darmesteter & L. H. Mills, Trans.). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press (Original work published 1880- 1887).

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), March 01, 2004.

Dear Dr. Vande Kemp: I would be glad to receive your paper. My postal adress is Ricardo Pautassi - Instituto Ferreyra - Friuli 2434 - Córdoba 5016 - República Argentina. Alternatively, you can send me a pdf or doc/text file to my mail account. Thank you so much for your offer. Interestingly, many of the sources you have searched are german in its language.

-- Ricardo Marcos Pautassi (rpautassi@immf.uncor.edu), March 02, 2004.