Spencer, Herbert THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY, BY HERBERT SPENCER. VOL. I. THIRD EDITION. (FOURTH THOUSAND.) WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; 1881. The Right of Translation is Beserved. gt-wenley lit 6-76-39 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. THIS third edition of the Principles of Psychology differs from preceding editions, mainly by containing a new division; which occurs in the second volume, under the title-" Part VIII., Congruities." By the preface to the first edition, it will be seen that I had originally intended to write, under the title of "Summary and Conclusion," a division having for its purpose "to bring the several lines of argument to a focus:" believing that "the harmony that may be shown to subsist between the doctrines elaborated in the respective divisions, is a strong confirmation of their truth." When I began to prepare the second and greatly enlarged edition, I looked forward to fulfilling this intention, which disturbed health had before obliged me to abandon. Eventually, however, I left the additional part unwritten-partly because the work had already become too bulky, and partly because I thought that the harmonies I proposed to point out were so conspicuous that all readers would perceive them. This last reason proved to be ill-grounded. Far from recognizing the harmonies which I thought conspicuous, sundry critics have enlarged on the incongruities. In a review published in the Academy for April 1, 1873, Mr. Henry Sidgwick speaks of "the mazy inconsistency of his [my] metaphysical results." Similarly, a writer in the Spectator for the 21st of June, 1873, asserts that "Mr. Spencer's system has the incurable defect of fundamental incoherence." Prof. Green, also, in two articles which appeared in the Contemporary Review for December, 1877, and March, 1878, devotes much space to showing, as he thinks, that my views are not coherent. Thus I find it, if not necessary, at any rate desirable, to fulfil my first intention. |