Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 9.djvu/337

 NO. 35-] [JULY, 1884. MIND A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY. I. A CLASSIFICATION OF FEELINGS. By CHAKLES MEECIEK, M.B. i. OF the various methods of classifying the Feelings that have from time to time been proposed, the majority were origin- ated while the science of psychology was as yet without form and void, and, being therefore out of harmony with the discoveries and developments since attained, they may for the present purpose be disregarded. Recent as is the philo- sophical work of Sir W. Hamilton, his outline of a classifica- tion is wholly obsolete, not more, however, from the advance that has since taken place in our knowledge than from the slight elaboration that he bestowed upon it. Crude as it is, however, his system is remarkable, and in my opinion chiefly meritorious, for the recognition, vague indeed and rather implied than expressed, of the necessity of taking account of circumstances external to the organism in denning and estimating the feelings. Subsequent attempts at classifica- tion, including that of Waitz, the intricate and minutely elaborated system of Wundt, and even the more recent effort of Mr. Shadworth H. Hodgson, all appear to me so utterly wanting in the first and most elementary condition of a 23