Johann Herbart
Herbart, Johann (1776-1841) Frail and precocious as a child, Herbart received his early training from his mother. Although initially impressed with Kant’s writings, Herbart’s views more closely aligned with Leibnitz. Not a nativist, Herbart maintained that psychology could never be an experimental science, but the mind could be described in mathematical and quantified terms. Herbart didn’t propose laws of association because he believed that ideas have energy of their own. This internal psychic energy of ideas attracted similar ideas and repelled opposing ideas. Consequently, Herbart’s psychology is referred to as “psychic mechanics.” Herbart emphasized the interaction of ideas. His psychic dynamics followed Leibnitz’s monads. In addition, Herbart held that compatible ideas formed a cluster in consciousness. This apperceptive mass is the result of similar ideas being drawn toward each other into the conscious mind. For him, ideas could be at varying levels of consciousness, but they are attracted toward each other into a conscious mass.
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