Nerven‐Saiten‐Stimmung. Zum Wandel einer Denkfigur zwischen Musik und Wissenschaft 1750–1850

‘Stimmung’. The Career of a Concept in Music and Science between 1750 and 1850. The German word ‘Stimmung’ originally refers to the musical praxis of tuning instruments. Whereas the English concepts of ‘tonus’ and ‘atunement’ used to describe the physical status of the body developed independently from the psychological ‘mood’, ‘Stimmung’ was used metaphorically in both physiology and psychology in the discussed period. This leads to various interrelations between the areas of knowledge involved. The paper investigates these on a synchronic and diachronic level. By concentrating a) on the analogy between musical strings and nerve fibres within the framework of a mechanistic conception of the body and b) on the metaphoric use of ‘Stimmung’ as a psychological concept describing the general mood of an individual, it becomes evident that the different metaphorical adaptations do not only have consequences within the specific area of knowledge, but also lead to distinct interpretations of musical effect. The second half of the paper concentrates on the diachronic development of ‘Stimmung’ in physiology and analyses the shifts within the semantic field of the metaphor occurring during the transformation from a mechanical to an organic conception of the body. On a theoretical level the emphasis lies on the conceptual potential of vague metaphors and the function of marginal metaphors in periods of theory change. In this context the results question Thomas Kuhns theory of an abrupt, gestaltlike change of theory by emphasizing the importance of continuous shifts within the semantic fields of vague metaphors.     

Disziplinentwicklung und Wissenschaftstransfer - Deutschsprachige Psychologen in der Emigration

(Discipline development and the transfer of science - German-speaking psychologists in the emigration). In this essay recently developed ideas from the social history of science, in particular the notion that there are historically conditioned ?national professional styles”? in science, are applied to the transfer of psychological theory - and of scientific psychologists - from German-speaking lands to the United States before and after 1933. After an overview of the scope and structure of the emigration in psychology, an analysis of the transfer process is offered focusing upon Gestalt theory.     

Zur Verwendung physiologischer Analogien bei der Entstehung der experimentellen Psychologie

In the middle of the 19th century, a disfavourable attitude towards the use of analogies prevailed in physiology and in psychology. The emerging experimental psychology nonetheless turned to analogies, two of which are discussed: the attempt to elucidate the construct “sensation”, and reaction time measurement.     

Vom Nutzen des Augenblicks für die Projekte der Wissenschaft

Using the Instant for the Projects of Science . Focusing on Bachelard's books L'Intuition de l'instant (1932) and La dialectique de la durée (1936), the paper deals with Bachelard's discontinuous and serial concept of time that is formulated against Henri Bergson's concept of duration. With a view to the philosophical concept of monadology, to the theory of relativity, and to the contemporary psychological and neurological research, the paper points to the significance of the instant for Bachelard's concept of temporality, for his desubjectified concept of the individual as well as his discontinuous concept of matter. Moreoever, the paper explores the discontinuous conception of temporality in Bachelard's epistemological writings. The paper argues that Bachelard's discontinuous concept of the specific temporality of science is based on a fundamental discontinuity of reality of both physical as well as psychological processes.     

Recognizing synesthesia on the international stage: The first scientific symposium on synesthesia (at The International Conference of Physiological Psychology,Paris, 1889)

ABSTRACT

At the first ever worldwide international conference of psychology in Paris, 1889, one symposium included a round-table event devoted entirely to the neurodevelopmental condition of synesthesia. Details of this seminal gathering on synesthesia and its international reception have been lost to historical obscurity. A synesthesia study committee emerged from this meeting, as well as a new research tool. Moreover, the scientific findings discussed during this symposium would be echoed over a hundred years later, when a new wave of synesthesia research in the late-twentieth century arose. This article sheds new light on this seminal gathering and aims to answer the following historical questions: Why was synesthesia included in this conference? What science was discussed? Who were the members of the committee and how did they come to be involved? What were their contributions to synesthesia research before, during, and after the conference? What has history shown us about the impact of this symposium on the science of synesthesia?