I am trying to find out what did W.Wundt actually call his theory that Titchener named "voluntarism" in the journals? It has been said that Wundt did not give it that name, but was coined by Titchener. Please name the source by which you attain the information.

-- peggy hix (phixus@hotmail.com), January 25, 2002

Answers

I'm not positive, but I believe you're confusing "voluntarism" with "structuralism". The latter is what Titchener named his approach (by contrast with Chicago's "functionalism", which Titchener also named). Titchener claimed to be following Wundt faithfully, but research in recent decades has shown this to have been false. (See relevant articles by A. Blumenthal, K. Danziger, and T. Leahey.)

Wundt did believe in free will (which is all that "voluntarism" means), and I would be surprised if he rejected the term -- one which was widespread at the time and not a position unique to Wundt by any means.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), January 25, 2002.