Page:Philosophical Review Volume 3.djvu/113

] to 'suggestion.'1. The theory of psychical disintegration, or psychological automatism (Janet, Myers, Dessoir, etc.); 2. that of the association of ideas (Wundt, Freund); 3. that of the mechanical activity of representations, or of psychical energy (Schmidkunz). For believers in the first theory, the automatic action of suggested perceptions is the result of a synthetic activity which, started in the past, may continue to act in opposition to a present activity of thought; the greater the power of the latter to combine together the new elements that emerge in consciousness, the more limited is the automatic activity; while the more simple the mental state and the more restricted the field of consciousness, the greater are the manifestations of this automatic activity. Suggestibility depends upon the fact that all psychical elements are not fused into one synthesis, but that some of them may form separate groups, from time to time constituting total ideas, and then again being so far united as to form a new personality. These theorists, however, do not attempt to bring the resulting conception of consciousness as a manifold into harmony with recognized physiological or psychological principles. Under the second theory de Sarlo states at length Wundt's explanation of hypnotic and related phenomena. Admitting that Wundt deserves credit for his careful analysis of some of these phenomena, and also for the effort to explain the psychological facts by reference to physiological processes, he maintains that the physiological hypotheses necessary for Wundt's explanation are not well grounded on ascertained facts. Furthermore, Wundt is not successful in his attempt to reduce all the phenomena of suggestion to cases of ordinary association conditioned by a restricted field of consciousness. Where Janet's theory differs from Wundt's is that, while both recognize the narrowing of the field of consciousness during the hypnotic state, the former would claim that the eliminated psychical elements may be still active, while according to Wundt they are wholly dormant. The observed facts certainly favor the former view. The third theory, that of Schmidkunz, assumes that all psychical phenomena are endowed with force, by which they persist for a greater or less time in consciousness, project themselves on the external world, attract or repel other presentations, and excite feelings and impulses. Now the degree of energy of any idea comes either from its peculiar content or from the value, ethical, logical, or æsthetic, that it has for the individual. In children or savages it is mainly the former, in cultured men the latter consideration which gives the