Category: Curriculum

Just learned today that the plural of Tripos is Triposes. But needn’t worry, I will stick to the singular form as in “Moral Sciences Tripos”. For those curious about all the Triposes offered at Cambridge University at the end of the 19th century,  much valuable information is to be found in The Student’s Guide to the University of Cambridge (Fifth edition, rewritten. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Co. 1893). Until Alfred Marshall was able to introduce a new Tripos in Economics and Political Science at Cambridge (see Alfred Marshall: The New Cambridge Curriculum in Economics and Associated Branches of Political Science: Its Purpose and Plan, 1903), the Moral Sciences Tripos of Psychology, Philosophy and Political Economy had served as an important breeding ground for Britain’s future economists.

Each of the individual guides for a particular Tripos could be purchased by the students. Below we have the guide written by the psychologist/philosopher, James Ward, for the Moral Sciences. He notes that John Neville Keynes provided suggestions with respect to Political Economy. I have provided links to just over thirty items in the readings lists.

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MORAL SCIENCES TRIPOS.
[revised edition, 1891]

Edited by
James Ward, Sc.D.
Examiner for the Moral Sciences Tripos and Lecturer
and Assistant Tutor of Trinity College

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NOTE.  For the special recommendations relating to Political Economy the Editor is indebted to Dr [John Neville] Keynes, University Lecturer and formerly Fellow of Pembroke College; and for those relating to Politics and Ethics he is indebted to Mr J.S. Mackenzie, Fellow of Trinity College.

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The examination for the Moral Sciences Tripos consists of two parts; and begins, as a rule, upon the Monday after the last Sunday but one in May. No student may present himself for both parts in the same year.

The first part consists of two papers on each of the following subjects: Psychology including Ethical Psychology; Logic and Methodology; Political Economy; together with a paper of Essays.

A candidate for honours in this part must be in his fifth term at least, having previously kept four terms; but nine complete terms must not have passed after the first of these four, unless the candidate has obtained honours in some other Tripos, in which case eleven complete terms may have passed.

The names of the candidates who obtain honours are placed in three classes, each class consisting of. one or more divisions arranged in alphabetical order.

The subjects of the second part of the examination fall into two groups:—(A) Metaphysics, Political Philosophy, Ethics—on each of which there is one paper—and (B) the following special subjects, History of Philosophy, Advanced Logic and Methodology, Advanced Psychology and Psychophysics, Advanced Political Economy. There are two papers on each of these special subjects besides an Essay paper containing questions on all the above subjects. Every student must take one, and may not take more than two, of the special subjects; also every student must take the papers on Metaphysics and Ethics except those who select Advanced Political Economy as a special subject: for such students the paper on Political Philosophy is provided as an alternative for Metaphysics.

A candidate for honours in this part must have already obtained honours in Part I. or in some other Tripos: he must also be in his eighth term at least, having previously kept seven terms; but twelve complete terms must not have passed after the first of these seven.

The names of the candidates who pass are placed in three classes arranged in alphabetical order. No candidate will be refused a first class on the ground that he has taken up only one special subject provided that his work reaches the first class standard in the compulsory subjects and his special subject taken together. In the case of every student who is placed in the first class, the class list will shew by some convenient mark (1) the subject or subjects for which he is placed in that class, and (2) in which of those subjects, if in any, he passed with special distinction.

The following schedules of the different subjects, with lists of books recommended for study, was issued by the Special Board for Moral Science on June 17, 1889.

Schedule of the Subjects of Examination in
Part I. of the Moral Sciences Tripos.

I. Psychology.

1. Standpoint, data, and methods of Psychology. Its fundamental conceptions and hypotheses. Relations of Psychology to Physics, Physiology, and Metaphysics.
2. General analysis and classification of states of mind. Attention, consciousness, self- consciousness. Elementary psychical facts: impressions, feelings, and movements; retentiveness, arrest, association; appetite and aversion; reflex action, instinct, expression of feeling.
3. Sensation and perception. Intensity, quality, and complexity of sensations. Physiology of the senses. Activity and passivity of mind. Localisation of sensations. Psychological theories of time and space. Intuition of things.
4. Images. Imagination, dreaming, hallucination. Flow of ideas. Interaction of impressions and images. Memory, expectation, obliviscence.
5. Thought. Comparison, abstraction, generalisation: formation of conceptions. Psychology of language. Influence of society upon the individual mind. Judgment. Psychological theories of the categories.
6. Emotions: their analysis and classification. Higher sources of feeling: aesthetic, intellectual, social and moral. Theories of emotional expression.
7. Voluntary action; its different determining causes or occasions, and their operation: Pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, and their varieties: will and practical reason: conscience, moral sentiments, moral perception or judgment, moral reasoning. Conflict of motives, deliberation, self- control. The origin of the moral faculty.

List of books recommended on this subject:

Sully, Outlines of Psychology.
Bernstein, The Five Senses of Man.
Bain, The Emotions and the Will.
Ward, Psychology, Article in the Encyclopedia Britannica, ninth edition.

The following books should also be consulted:

Bain, The Senses and the Intellect.
Dewey, Psychology.
Höffding, Psychologie in Umrissen.
Ladd, Elements of Physiological Psychology.
Lotze, Microcosmus, Vol. I.
Spencer, Principles of Psychology [Volume I; Volume II].

II. Logic and Methodology.

1. Province of Logic, formal and material.
2. Logical functions of language: names, and their kinds: formation of general notions: definition, division, and classification: predicables and categories: scientific nomenclature and terminology.
3. The fundamental laws of thought, and their application to logical processes.
4. Propositions and their import: opposition and conversion of propositions.
5. Analysis and laws of syllogism.
6. The nature of the inductive process: ground of induction: connexion between induction and deduction: analogy.
7. Uniformities of nature, and their combinations: their analysis, and the methods of discovering and proving them: observation and experiment: scientific explanation: the nature and uses of hypothesis: doctrine of chance.
8. Error, its nature and causes, and the safeguards against it: classification of fallacies.

List of books recommended on this subject:

Whately, Logic.
Keynes, Formal Logic.
Mill, Logic [Volume I; Volume II]
Jevons, Principles of Science.

The following books should also be consulted:

Bacon, Novum Organon.
Drobisch, Neue Darstellung der Logik.
Mill, Examination of Hamilton, Chapters 17 to 24.
Whewell, Novum Organon Renovatum.
Ueberweg, System of Logic.

III. Political Economy.

1. The fundamental assumptions of Economic Science, the methods employed in it, and the qualifications required in applying its conclusions to practice; its relation to other branches of Social Science.
2. Production of Wealth.
   Causes which affect or determine
   1. The efficiency of capital and of labour.
   2. The difficulty of obtaining natural agents and raw materials.
   3. The rate of increase of capital and population.
3. Exchange and Distribution of Wealth.
   Causes which affect or determine
   1. The value of commodities produced at home.
   2. The rent of land.
   3. Profits and wages.
   4. The value of currency.
   5. The value of imported commodities. Monopolies. Gluts and crises. Banking, and the foreign Exchanges.
4. Governmental Interference in its economic aspects. Communism and Socialism.
   The principles of taxation: the incidence of various taxes: public loans and their results.

List of books recommended on this subject:

Marshall, Economics of Industry.
Walker, The Wages Question, and Land and its Rent.
Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Books III. and V.
Jevons, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange.
Sidgwick, Principles of Political Economy, Introduction and Book III.
Fawcett, Free Trade and Protection.

The following books should also be consulted:

Bagehot, Lombard Street.
Bastable, Foreign Trade [sic, The Theory of International Trade (1887)].
Farrer, Free Trade and Fair Trade.
Giffen, Essays in Finance, Second Series.
Nicholson, Money and Monetary Problems, Part I.
Rae, Contemporary Socialism.
Sidgwick, Principles of Political Economy, Books I. and II.

Schedule of the Subjects of Examination in
Part II. of the Moral Sciences Tripos.

A.

I. (a) Metaphysics.

1. Knowledge, its analysis and general characteristics: material and formal elements of knowledge; self-consciousness as unifying principle; uniformity and continuity of experience.
2. Fundamental forms of the object of knowledge: difference, identity; quantity, quality, relation; space and time; unity, number; substance, change, cause, activity and passivity; &c.
3. Certainty, its nature and grounds : sensitive, intuitive and demonstrative certainty; necessities of thought;’1 inconceivability of the opposite “; verification by experience.
4. Criteria applicable to special kinds of knowledge: matters of fact and relations of ideas; logical and mathematical axioms; fundamental assumptions of physical science: causality, continuity, conservation of matter and of energy.
5. Sources and limits of knowledge: Empiricism, Rationalism, Transcendentalism; relativity of knowledge, its various meanings and implications; distinction of phenomena and things per se; the conditioned and the unconditioned, the finite and the infinite.
6. Coordination of knowledge: mechanical and dynamical theories of matter; evolution; physical and psychical aspects of life; province of teleology; relation of mind and matter; relation of the individual mind to the universe; problem of the external world; Materialism, Idealism, Dualism; relation of theoretical and practical philosophy.

I. (b) Politics.

1. Definition of State: general relation of the individual to the State and to Society : connexion of Law with Government in modern states : general view of functions of government : grounds and limits of the duty of obedience to government.
2. Principles of Legislation in the modern state: right of personal security : rights of property: contract and status: family rights : bequest and inheritance : prevention and reparation of wrongs : theory of punishment : governmental rights : grounds and limits of governmental interference beyond the making and enforcement of laws : principles of taxation.
3. External relations of states : principles of international law and international morality : war, and its justifications : expansion of states, conquest and colonization : relation of more civilized societies to less civilized.
4. Distribution of the different functions of government in the modern state : legislative, executive, and judicial organs, their mutual relations, and their modes of appointment : relation of the state to other associations of its members : sovereignty: constitutional law and constitutional morality: constitutional rights of private persons : central and local government: federal states; government of dependencies.
5. A general historical survey of (a) the development of Law and Government, (b) the chief variations in the form and functions of government in European communities, (c) the relations of these variations to other social differences and changes.

II. Ethics.

1. Analysis of the moral consciousness; moral sentiment, moral perception, moral judgment, moral intuition, moral reasoning: object of moral faculty; voluntary action, motives, intentions, dispositions, habits, character: freedom of will and determination by motives.
2. The end or ends of rational action, ultimate good: the standard of right and wrong action: moral law: moral obligation: evil, moral and physical: interest and duty: virtue and vice: moral beauty and deformity: happiness and welfare, private and universal: pleasure and pain, qualitative and quantitative comparison of pleasures and pains: perfection, moral and physical, as rational end.
3. Exposition and classification of particular duties and transgressions, virtues and vices: different types of moral character: principles of social and political justice.
4. Relation of Ethics to Metaphysics, Psychology, Sociology and Politics.

Special Subjects.

III. History of Philosophy.

A special subject in the History of Philosophy will be announced in the Easter Term next but one preceding that in which the examination is to be held. Students will also be required to have a general knowledge of the History of Philosophy.

IV. Advanced Psychology and Psychophysics.

A fuller knowledge will be expected of the subjects included in the schedule for Part I., and of current controversies in connexion with them. Further, a special knowledge will be required (i) of the physiology of the senses and of the central nervous system, (ii) of experimental investigations into the intensity and duration of psychical states, and (iii) of such facts of mental pathology as are of psychological interest. Questions will also be set relating to the philosophic treatment of the relation of Body and Mind as regards both the method and the general theory of psychology.

V. Advanced Logic and Methodology.

Students will be expected to shew a fuller knowledge of the subjects included in the schedule for Part I., and of current controversies in connexion with them, and the examination will also include the following subjects:—Symbolic Logic, Theory of Probabilities, Theory of Scientific Method, Theory of Statistics.

VI. Advanced Political Economy.

Students will be expected to shew a fuller and more critical knowledge of the subjects included in the schedule for Part I. The examination will also include the following subjects; the diagrammatic expression of problems in pure theory with the general principles of the mathematical treatment applicable to such problems: the statistical verification and suggestion of economic uniformities: and a general historical knowledge (a) of the gradual development of the existing forms of property, contract, competition and credit; (b) of the different modes of industrial organization; and (c) of the course and aims of economic legislation at different periods, together with the principles determining the same.

Remarks on the above Schedules.

Students will probably find it best to begin with Political Economy and Logic. The undisputed evidence which a large portion of Logic possesses peculiarly adapts it for beginners: and the principles of Political Economy, while they can be grasped with less effort of abstraction than those of Philosophy, also afford greater opportunity of testing the clearness of the student’s apprehension by their application to particular cases.

Accordingly, in the particular suggestions which follow as to the method of study to be adopted in the different departments respectively, we may conveniently take the subjects in the following order: Logic and Methodology, Political Economy, Psychology¹, Metaphysics, Politics, Ethics, and History of Philosophy¹. Care has been taken to distinguish the recommendations addressed to students who only aim at the more elementary or more general knowledge which will suffice for Part I., from those which relate to the more full and detailed knowledge—either of the subjects themselves or of the history of doctrine relating to them—which is required in Part II.

¹To avoid repetition the reading in these subjects for both parts is included under one head.

1. Logic and Methodology.

There are important differences in the range of meaning with which the term Logic is used. In its widest signification, it includes two departments of inquiry which may be to some extent studied independently of each other. The first of these,—to which alone the name Logic was formerly applied, and which still, according to some writers, should be regarded as constituting the whole of Logic,—is concerned with reasonings only in so far as their validity can be determined a priori by the aid of laws of thought alone.

This study is often called, for distinction’s sake, ‘Formal Logic;’ on the ground that it is concerned with the form and not with the matter of thought; i.e. not with the characteristics of the particular objects about which the mind thinks and reasons, but with the manner in which, from its very nature, its normal thoughts and reasonings about them are constructed. It is with this branch that the student should commence, familiarising himself with it by the aid of some elementary hand-book, e.g. Jevons’s Elementary Lessons in Logic, or Fowler’s Deductive Logic.

He should then take Keynes’s Formal Logic as his text-book, consulting other works on the subject when he finds them there referred to, and, in particular, working out a good number of the examples and problems that are set.

The latter portion of Jevons’s Lessons or Fowler’s Inductive Logic may serve as an introduction to Mill’s Logic for those who shrink from facing Mill’s two volumes at once. This work has a much wider scope than that of Formal Logic, as above explained; and in fact deals at length with topics that do not so properly belong to Logic— even according to Mill’s own definition of Logic—as to Methodology, or the theory of the intellectual processes by which the truths of the different sciences have been reached in the past, and may be expected to be reached in the future. It should be observed also that even when Mill is apparently discussing the same topics as those discussed by the formal logicians, he will often be found to treat them in quite a different spirit, and from a different point of view.’ A clear apprehension of this difference can only be attained in the course of the study itself: but it is well that the student should be prepared for it at the outset. The greater portion of Jevons’s Principles of Science is devoted to the description and analysis of the methods of the physical sciences, and contains an almost unique collection of interesting and valuable scientific illustrations. Dr Venn’s Empirical Logic, published since the schedule was issued, should be read carefully either along with or after these works by Mill and Jevons. Whewell’s Novum Organon Renovatum should be consulted in connexion with Mill’s Logic. It deals more distinctly and explicitly with the methodological topics treated of in Mill’s book: and the student’s grasp of the subject will be materially aided by a careful comparison of the doctrines of the two writers.

The majority of the more advanced works fall into two sections: those which are read mainly for their own historic interest or the historic information which they contain; and those which require some knowledge of mathematics or physical science, as analysing the methods, or appealing to the notation of, those sciences. In the former class Bacon’s Novum Organon claims attention from its importance in the development of English scientific speculation. The best brief introduction to it is still to be found in the essay by R. L. Ellis, in the first volume of the collected works of Bacon by him and Mr Spedding. Much valuable information and criticism is also given in Professor Fowler’s very complete edition of the Novum Organon. Ueberweg’s System of Logic is valuable to the English reader for its abundant historic references, and because it presents him with a general view of the science familiar on the continent but not readily to be gained from the ordinary English hand-books.

The student is recommended to read the logical parts of Mill’s Examination of Hamilton, less for their destructive side, in the way of criticism of Hamilton, than for the many points on which they serve to supplement Mill’s own system of Logic, and to explain the philosophic scheme which underlies that system.

Many of the advanced books on Logic which it is usual to study for the second part of the Tripos deal largely with questions pertaining to Metaphysics as described in the schedule. Among books of this class probably the Logics of Lotze and of Sigwart will furnish the best basis of study: the former is already translated and a translation of the latter is in progress. To the same class— Higher Logic it is sometimes called—belong Bradley’s Principles of Logic and Bosanquet’s Logic or Morphology of Knowledge, both of which deserve perusal.

Dr Venn’s Symbolic Logic may be taken as the best introduction to that subject and the corresponding parts of Boole’s Laws of Thought and Jevons’s Principles of Science may be studied in connexion with it. A great deal has been written on this form of Logic within the last few years and the student will find a full bibliography in Schroder’s Vorlesungen über die Algebra der Logik, Band i. 1890.

Dr Venn’s Logic of Chance may serve in like manner as an introduction to the Theory of Probabilities and the Theory of Statistics. It aims at being within the comprehension of those who have only an elementary knowledge of mathematics. Two of the best books dealing specially with statistics are Maurice Block, Traité théorique et pratique de statisque 1878, and Georg Mayr, Die Gesetzmässigheit im Gesellschaftsleben 1877.

In addition to the books already mentioned on the subject of Higher Logic and Method the two large volumes by Wundt—Logik: Erkenntnisslehre; Logik, Methodenlehre—may be consulted and will serve to introduce many other books dealing with special questions to the notice of the student.

2. Political Economy.

Of the books included in the syllabus drawn up by the Board, Mill’s Principles of Political Economy and Sidgwick’s Principles of Political Economy alone cover the whole ground as defined by the schedule for Part I. of the Moral Sciences Tripos. It will be observed, however, that only Books III. and V. of the former are recommended, and that only a portion of the latter is included in the list of works which all candidates are expected to study in detail. The reason for this, so far as Mill is concerned, is the recognition that substantial corrections are required in his general theory of Distribution. The need of such corrections was, indeed, admitted by Mill himself some time before his death; but he never faced the task of rewriting his treatise from the new point of view which he had gained. Nevertheless if the student will remember that many of the positions taken up require important modifications, he will do well to begin with a perusal of Mill’s work in order to obtain a first general survey of the subject. Professor Sidgwick’s treatise is more difficult, and should therefore be taken at a somewhat later stage.  Assuming that Mill has been read so as to gain a general idea of the ground to be covered, but without any considerable amount of attention having been paid to points of detail, the student should seek thoroughly to master Marshall’s Economics of Industry. This work should be supplemented by Walker on the Wages Question and on Land and its Rent. Here and elsewhere the differences of view between the authors read should be carefully noted and thought over. The student will find it specially useful to make a critical comparison of the theories of wages and profits laid down by Mill, Marshall, and Walker, observing both their points of resemblance and their points of difference.

The study of the general theory of Distribution and Exchange may later on be completed, so far as Part I. of the Tripos is concerned, by a careful study of Marshall’s Principles of Economics, Vol. I., and of the corresponding portions of Sidgwick’s Principles of Political Economy. Attention may be specially called to the part played by the principle of Continuity in the former work, and to the recognition by both writers of the complicated interactions between economic phenomena, which render it impossible to sum up in cut-and-dried formulas the conclusions ultimately reached.

Passing to the subject of currency and banking, the student should read Jevons’s Money and the Mechanism of Exchange and Nicholson’s Money and Monetary Problems, Part I., which usefully supplement one another. The former is mainly of a descriptive character, while the latter deals with the more difficult problems relating to the principles that regulate the value of money. Bagehot’s Lombard Street treats of the English banking system with special reference to the position of the Bank of England in the London Money Market. The above may be supplemented by Walker’s Money, Trade, and Industry, and by the corresponding chapters of Sidgwick.

The subject of international values and allied topics may be studied in Bastable’s Theory of International Trade. Goschen’s Foreign Exchanges is in some respects difficult, but it should on no account be omitted; it will give the student a fuller grasp of facts, the apprehension of which is of fundamental importance both for the theory of foreign trade and for the theory of money. Giffen’s Essays in Finance, Second Series, may be read with advantage at about this point.

Passing from economic science in the stricter sense to its applications, and considering Government interference in its economic aspects and the principles of taxation and State finance, Mill, Book V. should be supplemented by Sidgwick, Book III  A study of Professor Sidgwick’s method will afford the student a most valuable training in the philosophic treatment of practical questions.

Some of Macmillan’s English Citizen Series may here be consulted; e.g., Wilson’s National Budget, Fowle’s Poor Law, and Jevons’s State in relation to Labour. The subject of Free Trade and Protection is treated in detail, from the Free Trade standpoint, in Fawcett’s Free Trade and Protection and in Farrer’s Free Trade versus Fair Trade. Current socialistic doctrines will be found fully described and criticized in Rae’s Contemporary Socialism. The student will learn much from following the economic movements of his own time; but he must be cautioned against giving undue attention to controversial questions of the day, such as bimetallism, socialism, &c. Time may thus be occupied, which should be given to systematic study of the foundations of the science.  The scope of Political Economy, the methods employed in it, and its relations to other sciences, are treated of in Marshall’s Principles of Economics, Book I., and in Sidgwick’s Introduction. Cossa’s Guide to the Study of Political Economy and Keynes’s Scope and Method of Political Economy may also be consulted.  It would be out of place here to attempt to give detailed advice to students taking Advanced Political Economy in Part II. of the Tripos. They may be warned, however, of the importance of not neglecting to go over again more than once the ground they have already covered. They will thus familiarise themselves with the general principles of economic reasoning, and will know how to set about the solution of any new and complex problem that may be placed before them. In particular they should return again and again to the more difficult parts of Marshall and Sidgwick, and—in connexion with the former—should study the application of symbolic and diagrammatic methods to Economics. From this point of view Cournot’s Principes Mathématiques de la Théorie des Richesses and Jevons’s Theory of Political Economy should be read. Some of Jevons’s doctrines are expounded with great lucidity in Wick- steed’s Alphabet of Economic Science, and this book may be specially recommended to those students whose mathematical reading is not so far advanced as to render needless an elementary exposition of the conceptions upon which the Differential Calculus is based. A critical study of Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy and of his Tracts on Money must not be omitted; while in order to obtain some knowledge of recent developments of theory by his latest critics—the economists of the Austrian school—reference may be made to Böhm-Bawerk’s Capital and Interest and Positive Theory of Capital, the former of which is however open to the charge of doing less than justice to the writer’s predecessors.

Every student of Economics ought to read at least some portions of the Wealth of Nations, Professor Nicholson’s edition of which, with Introduction and notes, may be recommended. Many real and fundamental divergences from modern theory will be observed, especially in Books I. and II.; but Adam Smith is generally stimulating and instructive even when the doctrines which he lays down need correction. As regards the course of economic history, especially the course and aims of economic legislation at different periods, Books III., IV., and V. are specially important. For further historical study choice may be made from the following: Ashley, Economic History; Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce; Maine, Village Communities; Seebohm, The English Village Community; Brentano, On the History and Development of Gilds; Gross, The Gild Merchant; Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages; Toynbee, The Industrial Revolution; Levi, History of British Commerce. Blanqui’s History of Political Economy in Europe and Ingram’s History of Political Economy may also be read ; but it must be remembered that the latter is written from the point of view of the Comtist critic and is strongly partisan. The use of statistics in Economics may be studied in Jevons’s Investigations in Currency and Finance (edited by Professor Foxwell) and in both series of Giffen’s Essays in Finance.

A long list of useful books on various departments of Political Economy might here be added, but it must suffice specially to mention the collected Essays of J. S. Mill, Bagehot, Cairnes, and Cliffe Leslie. Portions of the following may be consulted in libraries on particular points: Eden, State of the Poor; Porter, Progress of the Nation; Tooke and Newmarch, History of Prices; Schönberg, Handbuch der politischen Oekonomie.

3. Psychology.

The Science of Psychology has made considerable advances in recent times; so that the work of earlier English writers on this subject—including even Locke—has now chiefly a historic interest. Still the student must not expect to find a perfectly clear consensus among its expositors as to its method and principles. Modern Psychology though rich in facts, is poor in definitions; and the greater part of its laws are merely empirical generalisations still awaiting further explanation.

The great difficulty in attempting to prescribe a course of reading in Psychology is to avoid repetition and what is worse—a bewildering divergence of opinion at least as regards details. There is now an English translation of Hoffding’s Outlines and with this or with Dewey’s Psychology the student had better begin. He may then read Sully’s Outlines and Bain’s works as supplementary to his first text-book. The article Psychology in the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is most likely to be of service to him when he feels the need of getting his psychological knowledge into more scientific form.

Psychophysics, which treats of the phenomena of mind in relation to the changes in the organism which accompany them, is a branch of Psychology to which every one who studies this subject at all, must give some attention. Here, however, we have to distinguish between the philosophical discussion of the general relation of mind and body, and a knowledge of the particular connexions between mental and corporeal phenomena. The former subject belongs rather to Metaphysics; an elementary knowledge of the latter may be gained from Prof. Ladd’s Outlines of Physiological Psychology which has just appeared and may be taken to supersede his larger Elements: it will also probably enable the student to dispense with Bernstein’s Five Senses of Man.

The advanced student of Psychology will find it a great advantage if he is able to read German. In this case Volkmann’s Lehrbuch der Psychologie will be most useful to him as a repertory of facts and opinions, besides giving the ablest exposition of the Herbartian Psychology—the Psychology which has been the most fruitful of results, at any rate in Germany. Closely related to this school is the teaching of Lotze, which should on no account be passed over: one section of his Metaphysik² is devoted to psychological questions. His Medicinische Psychologie, long out of print and very scarce, is still worth attention: a portion of it has recently appeared in French. Drobisch’s Empirische Psychologie and Waitz’s Grundlegung, and Lehrbuch der Psychologie are works to which the student who is not pressed for time should also pay some attention. Morell’s Introduction to Mental Philosophy on the Inductive Method, is avowedly largely indebted to Waitz, Drobisch and Volkmann. It may be recommended especially to the English student who is unacquainted with German; also Ribot’s La Psychologie allemande contemporaine, which contains fair summaries of the leading doctrines of Herbart, Fechner, Lotze, Wundt and others.

²There is an English translation of this published by the Clarendon Press.

In the two large volumes of Prof. William James, Principles of Psychology, the advanced student has the means of forming an ample acquaintance with existing doctrine and current controversies. From Wundt’s Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (3rd ed. 1887: French translation of the 2nd ed. 1880) the same help may be obtained as regards Experimental Psychology³. But the special knowledge required concerning the central nervous system will be got better from Dr Foster’s Text-book of Physiology, 5th ed. Parts III. and IV. There is no single book giving such facts of mental pathology as are of psychological interest. This is a department to which the French have especially devoted themselves. The following works may be mentioned :—Janet (Pierre), L’automatisme psychologique; Ribot, Les Maladies de la Mémoire; Les Maladies de la Volonté; Les Maladies de la Personnalité. Several of Ribot’s books are to be had in English.

³There is now (1891) some prospect of a Psychophysical laboratory in Cambridge. Prof. Foster has already set apart a room for the purpose and the University has made a small grant towards the purchase of apparatus. Some instruments too have been given by private donors.

Many works have recently appeared on what might be called Comparative Psychology. The subject is one that it is difficult to lift above the level of anecdote, but none the less it deserves attention. Romanes’ Mental Evolution (2 vols.) and Prof. Lloyd Morgan’s Animal Life and Intelligence will be found interesting in this department of psychology.

The origin of language and the connexion of thought and language form an important chapter of psychology and are dealt with in special works, in most of which, however, either the psychology or the philology leaves much to be desired. A general oversight of theories will be found in Marty, Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache. Max Müller’s Science of Thought, Egger’s La Parole intérieure, and Steinthal’s Einleitung in die Psychologie und Sprachwissenschaft are noteworthy.

4. Metaphysics.

The student who has already gone through a course of reading—accompanied, it is to be hoped, by oral instruction—in Psychology, will already have had his attention directed to some extent to the topics included in the schedule of Metaphysics. That this must be the case will appear, indeed, from a comparison of the two schedules of Psychology and Metaphysics respectively, independently of the books recommended. Thus it would be impossible to treat of the “data and fundamental conceptions” of Psychology, of “perception,” “intuition of things,” or “thought and abstraction,” without at the same time discussing to a certain extent the “nature and origin of knowledge” and the “relation of the individual mind to the universe,” &c.

But the principle of the separation adopted in the Cambridge scheme may perhaps be made partially clear without entering on matters of controversy; and it will probably assist the student to keep it in view from the outset. He must understand then, that Psychology deals with cognitive acts or states primarily as one class (among others) of mental phenomena; as forming part of the stream of consciousness of certain particular minds, whose processes the student is able to observe directly or indirectly. Whereas in the investigation of knowledge and its conditions that constitutes one department of Metaphysics, the same acts or states are primarily considered as representative of or related to the objects known. Or—to present substantially the same difference in another form—in investigating perceptions or thoughts from the point of view of Psychology we are no more occupied with those that are real or valid, than with those that are illusory or invalid—in fact, the latter may often be more interesting as throwing more light on the general laws of human minds: whilst as metaphysicians we are primarily concerned with real knowledge or truth as such, and treat of merely apparent knowledge or error only in order to expose and avoid it.

Under the head of Metaphysics it is intended to require a general knowledge (1) of what is coming to be called Epistemology and (2) of the speculative treatment of the fundamental questions concerning Nature and Mind prevalent at the present time, without direct reference to the History of Philosophy. Still it can scarcely be denied that the student who purposes to take up the History of Philosophy as a special subject will find some acquaintance with this history a help to the understanding of Philosophy in its most recent phases. If for no other reason this will be found true from the simple fact that nearly every writer on philosophical problems assumes some familiarity on the part of his readers with the writings of his predecessors. In particular those who are taking up both subjects and have to begin their work in private—during the Long Vacation, for instance— will find it advantageous to take up certain parts of the general history before attempting to do much at Metaphysics as outlined in the schedule, and especially to take up those parts of it that relate to the Theory of Knowledge. For these at least a general acquaintance with Hume and Kant will be helpful. Still those who are meaning to specialise in other directions can begin without this preliminary study of the history, and may reasonably count on getting what they need in this respect from lectures. Such may read some brief exposition of the Kantian philosophy, the three constructive chapters in Mill’s Examination of Hamilton (entitled Psychological Theory of Matter, Mind &c.), Mr Herbert Spencer’s First Principles and Lotze’s Metaphysics, as a preparation for lectures. Those familiar with German will find Riehl’s Philosophische Kriticismus, Kroman’s Unsere Naturerkenntniss and Wundt’s System der Philosophie useful books.

5. Politics.

The student will find all the aspects of this subject most fully dealt with in Dr Sidgwick’s Elements of Politics. This work is written from the Utilitarian point of view: the following books written from the same general standpoint may be read along with it:—Mill’s Utilitarianism, Chap, V., and Representative Government, Bentham’s Principles of Morals and Legislation, Principles of the Civil Code and Fragments on Government, and Austin’s Jurisprudence. For a treatment of the subject from a different point of view, the student may be recommended to read Green’s Lectures on Political Obligation (in the 2nd volume of his Collected Works); also Ritchie’s Principles of State Interference. Mr Herbert Spencer’s writings may also be profitably consulted, especially his Sociology, Part II. and Part V., and his volume on Justice.

The following works will be found useful for occasional reference—Bluntschli, Lehre vom modernen Staat, Vol. I. (authorised English translation published by the Clarendon Press), Maine’s Ancient Law, Early History of Institutions, and Popular Government, Stephen’s English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, Spencer’s Man versus the State, Dicey’s Law of the Constitution, Bryce’s American Commonwealth, Stirling’s Philosophy of Law, Hume’s Essays, II.—IX., and XII., Locke’s Essay on Civil Government, &c.

To those who have time and inclination to go beyond the limits of the schedule and study the history of the subject Janet’s Histoire de la Science Politique may be recommended. But some acquaintance with the original works of the more important writers is desirable—e.g., the Republic and Laws of Plato, the Ethics and Politics of Aristotle, Hobbes’s Leviathan, Montesquieu’s Esprit des Lois, Rousseau’s Contrat Social, Burke’s Thoughts on the Present Discontents and Reflections on the Revolution in France, Hegel’s Rechtsphilosophie and Philosophy of History, Comte’s Philosophie Positive, Part VI. Physique Sociale, (Vol. II. of Miss Martineau’s Translation), and Politique Positive (translated by various writers). Students ought not, however, to attempt to master the details of any of these works. On Comte, Caird’s Social Philosophy of Comte will be found useful.

6. Ethics.

Every student will naturally desire to have from the first a clear idea of the scope of the science. Unhappily there is no book from which such an idea can be gained in a quite satisfactory manner: for the degree of emphasis which is laid on different questions, and even to some extent the nature of the questions themselves, vary considerably in the different schools of ethical thought. A general sketch of the topics discussed by modern ethical writers may be found in such a book as Dewey’s Outlines of Ethics. But the significance of the various questions can hardly be fully appreciated without some reference to the history of the subject. It would be well therefore to read ch. IV. of Dr Sidgwick’s short History of Ethics at an early stage. This book is almost entirely limited, in the modern parts, to the history of English thought; but this deficiency may easily be corrected as the student proceeds with his work.

After having in this way acquired a general idea of the subject, the student may proceed to consider, more in detail, the various points of view from which the subject has been approached. He will soon find that the main schools of ethical thought group themselves naturally under the following heads:—(1) Intuitional, (2) Utilitarian, (3) Evolutionist, (4) Idealistic. As the student advances, he may be led to see that the distinction between these schools is not an absolute one, and that to a considerable extent their views overlap. But at first it may be convenient to study them separately. As representative of the Intuitional theory, the student may read the part of Martineau’s Types of Ethical Theory which contains the statement of the writer’s own doctrine— i.e. especially Part II., Book I., and perhaps the chapters on Intuitionism in Calderwood’s Handbook of Moral Philosophy; while, as representative of the Utilitarian point of view he may take Mill’s Utilitarianism, together with the criticism and further development of Mill’s ideas in Dr Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics. The criticisms of Intuitionism in Dr Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics and of Utilitarianism in Green’s Prolegomena to Ethics and in Sorley’s Ethics of Naturalism ought also to be studied in this connexion. With reference to Evolutionist Ethics, Mr Herbert Spencer’s Data of Ethics ought to be carefully studied, while those who have time may consult in addition such books as Mr Leslie Stephen’s Science of Ethics, Mr Alexander’s Moral Order and Progress, and Höffding’s Ethik. For criticism of the Evolutionist Ethics, reference may be made to Green’s Prolegomena to Ethics, Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics, and Sorley’s Ethics of Naturalism. The Idealistic Ethics rests primarily on the teaching of Kant, and the best introduction to it may be found in his Metaphysic of Morals (of which Abbott’s translation is the most accurate). Dewey’s Outlines of Ethics are also written from this point of view. So are Bradley’s Ethical Studies and Green’s Prolegomena to Ethics; but only certain portions of these books can be studied with advantage by those who are not at the same time studying Metaphysics. The most complete exposition and criticism of Kant’s ethical position is to be found in the 2nd volume of Caird’s Critical Philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Among recent books Paulsen’s System der Ethik is singularly rich and suggestive.

Students who are reading Metaphysics in conjunction with Ethics will naturally bestow more attention on the fundamental difficulties of the subject than other students can be expected to give. On this, as on other aspects of Philosophy, the works of Kant will necessarily be studied with care. Green’s Prolegomena to Ethics may be strongly recommended as the most important English book dealing with the relation of Metaphysics to Ethics. Few students will find time to acquire more than a general knowledge of such speculations as those of Plato, Spinoza, and Hegel.

Students of Politics, on the other hand, may be expected to be especially interested in the relations of Ethics to the Philosophy of society and of the state. Among modern writers, the Germans have devoted most attention to this aspect of the subject, from Hegel’s Rechtsphilosophie onwards. Paulsen’s System der Ethik may be recommended; also Hoffding’s Ethik, translated from the Danish. In English, Green’s Prolegomena to Ethics and Lectures on Political Obligation (in the 2nd volume of his Collected Works) may be consulted. Several writers of the Utilitarian school have also dealt with this subject. Bentham’s Principles of Morals and Legislation and Principles of the Civil Code will be found interesting; and highly instructive discussions of various aspects of the subject are to be found in Dr Sidgwick’s Methods of Ethics, Principles of Political Economy, and Elements of Politics.

7. History of Philosophy.

A particular portion⁴ of the whole subject will be selected from time to time, which the student will be required to know thoroughly: and he should endeavour to avail himself of this special knowledge so as to make his general survey of the course of metaphysical speculation, in ancient or modern times, less superficial than it would otherwise be; by keeping prominently in view the connexion of the doctrines specially studied with antecedent and subsequent thought.

⁴The special subject selected for the examination in 1892 is, The Philosophy of Kant; and for 1893:—European Philosophy from 1600 to 1660 with special reference to Descartes, Bacon and Hobbes.

There are no good general histories of Philosophy by English writers, but there are translations of several standard histories by Germans. Of these Schwegler’s, though very brief, is good for a general survey. Erdmann is fairly full and would be excellent if not obscured in parts by careless translation. Ueberweg attempts—in the style of Prof. Bain’s Ethical Systems—to summarize in the writers’ own words but not always with Prof. Bain’s success.

The student should try, if possible, to read something of the philosophical classics at first hand. Such short works, for example, as Descartes’ Discourse on Method or his Meditations, Berkeley’s Hylas and Philonous, Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature, Vol. I., and Kant’s Prolegomena to every future metaphysic, might be read.

Prof. Sidgwick’s History of Ethics will be found the most useful text-book; and may be supplemented by Jodl’s Geschichte der Ethik. Help will also be obtained from Mr Leslie Stephen’s History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century; Martineau’s Types of Ethical Theory; the Introduction to the second volume of Hume’s Works in the edition of Green and Grose (reprinted in the first volume of Green’s Collected Works); and Wundt’s Ethik, Abschnitt II.

General Remarks on Method and Time of Study.

1. Method of reading.

Perhaps the best plan upon commencing a new work is to read it rapidly through first, in order to form a general notion of its bearing and to catch its principal points. The first reading may be too careful. The student may find himself face to face with difficulties, which, although really only of an incidental character, may cause him to misconceive the proportions of the whole, if he have formed a determination—in itself praiseworthy —to master every part upon first acquaintance. Upon the second reading, an analysis should be made of the more important works, but care should be taken that it do not become long and wearisome: it should be distinctly of the nature of a summary, and not a mere series of extracts. Such analyses are almost indispensable, to enable the student to perform, in the concluding period of his course, an effective and systematic revision of the whole results of his study. Further, at the second time of reading, the student should take careful note of any difficulties that he may find in understanding the doctrines or criticisms propounded, or any doubts that may occur to him as to their correctness. He need not be afraid of losing time by writing down in his note-book as precise a statement as possible of his doubt or difficulty; since no exercise of his mind is likely to be more conducive to his attaining a real grasp of his subject. He will sometimes find that the mere effort to state a difficulty clearly has the effect of dispelling it; or, if not at the time, at any rate when he recurs to the point on a subsequent day he will often find the problem quite easy of solution: while in the cases where his perplexity or objection persists, a clear statement of it will generally bring his mind into the most favourable condition for receiving explanations from his teacher.

In subjects so full of unsettled controversy as the Moral Sciences generally are, a student must be prepared to find himself not unfrequently in legitimate disagreement with the authors studied; (though he should not hastily conclude that this is the case, especially during the earlier stages of his course). In all except quite recent books, he is likely to find some statements of fact or doctrine which all competent thinkers at the present day would regard as needing correction; while in other cases he will find, on comparing different works, important discrepancies and mutual contradictions on points still debated between existing schools of thought. He should carefully note the results of such comparisons; but he should not content himself with merely committing them to memory; rather, he should always set himself to consider from what source each controversy arises, what its relation is to the rest of the doctrine taught in the works compared, and by what method the point at issue is to be settled.

It will generally be found convenient to put in tabular form any divisions or classifications which , are met with in the books read. Such lists are not indeed necessarily of great importance in themselves, but they furnish a convenient framework for criticisms and comparisons of the methods and results of various writers.

The constant practice of writing answers to papers of questions and longer compositions on special points arising out of the subjects studied, cannot be too strongly urged. Many minds are hardly able to bring their grasp of subtle or complicated reasonings to the due degree of exactness and completeness, until their deficiencies in these respects have been brought home to them by exercises in written exposition.

2. Time of study.

A student who is in a position to begin effective work in his first term may hope to be prepared for Part I. of the Tripos in his second year, and may take Part II. at the end of his third, assuming, of course, in both cases that he does a reasonable amount of private study during Long Vacations. But it is desirable, when circumstances admit of it and especially if two of the special subjects are taken up, to devote not less than two years to the work of the Second Part.

Those who have taken honours in other Triposes at the end of their second year, will be able afterwards to prepare fully for either part of the Moral Sciences Tripos at the end of their fourth year, without being inconveniently pressed for time—supposing them to read steadily in their second, as well as in their third Long Vacation. If, however, the period entirely devoted to this preparation is only one year—as must be the case with students who take some other Tripos at the end of their third year—it is very desirable that some part of the subjects should have been read at an earlier stage of the course.

The Special Board for Moral Science publishes annually, towards the end of the Easter Term, a list of lectures for the coming academical year in different departments of the Moral Sciences. These lectures are, generally speaking, so arranged as to provide all the oral instruction required by students at different stages of their course.

Source:  Dr. J. Ward, Trinity College, editor: Part VIII. The Moral Sciences Tripos  in The Student’s Guide to the University of Cambridge (5^th edition, rewritten). Cambridge (U.K.): Deighton, Bell and Co., 1891.

Image Source:  Illustration by Edward Hull “The New Court, Trinity College Cambridge” from page 81 of  Alfred J. Church, The Laureate’s Country. London: Seeley, 1891.