Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 6.djvu/125

TH. RIBOT, La Psychologie des Sentiments. 109 Such, in outline, is M. Kibot's conception of his subject.. His work itself falls into two parts : I., General Psychology an account of the general characteristics of feeling; and II.,. Special Psychology a descriptive and genetic account of the various, feelings which actually constitute the affective life. The first six chapters of Part I. are occupied with the discussion of pleasure and pain. Physical and mental pain, which are regarded as fundamentally identical, are considered in two- chapters, the first of which gives an account of the physiological conditions of pain, and prepares the way for a theory of emotion by the conclusion that pain is ultimately conditioned by chemical stimulation of vasomotor nerves ; while the second represents the- development of mental pain as consisting of three stages which are determined severally by memory, by association with repre- sentations, and by association with concepts. The most interesting point in the chapter on pleasure is the= view which is suggested as to the relation of pleasure and pain. M. Bibot insists on the co-existence and mutual implication of pleasures and pains ; and he follows Beaunis (Sensations Internes) in explaining the rise of each of them as the pre- dominance of certain elements in the mental complex, while other elements are held in abeyance. An acute though hasty discussion of abnormal states of pleasure and pain is followed by a chapter on neutral states. The author inclines to believe in these states. of indifference chiefly on the ground that habituation renders them probable ; but he suggests that their existence or non-exist- ence may be a variation of individual temperaments. The foregoing discussions are summed up in a statement of conclusions as to pleasure and pain the conditions of their exist- ence and the nature of their utility. On neither of these subjects, however, has M. Bibot any important contribution to make. He adopts, though with some hesitation and amendment, Meynert's account of the relation of pleasure and pain to motor and vascular reflexes ; and he is satisfied to accept the evolutionist explanation that they exist in virtue of their life-preserving character, although he is fully aware of the facts which this account fails to explain. In this connexion he reprobates the desire of philosophers to find a single explanation for all the facts. Yet on occasion no one has a finer contempt than M. Eibot for explanations that do not ex- plain, and theories which are compelled to leave out large parts of their subject-matter. This discussion of pleasure and pain is followed by an account of emotion, which describes its intimate nature, its internal and external conditions, and the various attempts which have been made to classify the emotions. The first part concludes with chapters on affective memory and on the relation of feeling to the association of ideas. The chapters on Emotion form one of the most important sections of the book. One is, of course, prepared, by M. Eibot's.