Wundt’s logic: Old resource for new ideas

Abstract

Despite recent scholarship reappraising the complexity of Wilhelm Wundt’s complete works on psychology, contemporary psychology tends to overlook the fundamental epistemological and methodological principles outlined in his less popular writings on logic when engaging in methodological discussions. This article addresses this by situating Wundt’s logic volumes in his oeuvre and demonstrating the continued relevance of his methodological insights for contemporary psychology. Analysing Wundt’s Logic of Psychology, we develop three theses: (a) a multimethodological model is necessary to understand the interaction between individual psychology and völkerpsychologie, (b) Wundt’s völker-psychological analysis highlights the significance of cultural (document) data for psychology, and (c) the comparison between the theories of language of Wundt and Bühler clarifies that Wundt’s approach lacks a concept of dialogicality. We argue that only by understanding how cultural products serve a function in the individual history of micro-interactions can a meaningful connection between the individual and collective emerge.