FECHNER, fex'ner, GUSTAV THEODOR (1801 87). A German physicist and philosopher, the founder of modern psyehology and psychophysics. He was born in the village of Gross-Sfirchen, near Muskau, in Lower Lusatia. After completing his school education at. the Kreuzschule, in Dresden, Fechner in 1817 entered the University of Leip zig as a student of medicine. Disappointed at the unscientific character of his medical teaching, and strongly influenced by Oken's Naturphilo saphie and Blot's Physics, he soon turned his attention to the study of theoretical and experi mental physics, and after Gilbert's death, in 1824, lectured as a substitute for the professor. From this date till 1845 he made valuable contri butions to the doctrine of electricity. his well known Ilassbestimmengen fiber die galranisehe Kett(' being issued in a single volume in 1831. in 18'33 he was appointed associate professor, and in 1834 full professor of physics in the Univer sity of Leipzig. In 18:3S.40 he was engaged upon investigations in the sphere of physiolog ical optics. Meantime he had, under the pseu donym of Dr. Mises. published a long series of humorous and satirical essays, of which we may mention the l'roof that thr Moon is Made of Iodine (1821), a sharp arraignment of the existing state of materia medica. and the Coin pa ra I ire .1 na (only of the Angels (1825). a work of delicate humor, containing in germ ninny philosophical ideas which were later put forward with serious inten tion. In 1839 Fechner published a notable piece of art. criticism, and in 1811, as Dr. Mises. a volume of lyric poetry. The years l8410-4:( were spent, for the most part. in the sick room—Fech ner had broken down nervously, and was threat ened both with blindness and with insanity. His recovery. when it set in. was rapid and coin. idete. Ile now turned his thought toward phi losophy. and issued in 181t1 an ethical treatise.
r thus. hiichsto (lat. This was followed in 1818 by the curious but most suggestive work, :Vanua, oder iiber dos Seelenleben der Pflanzen, in which mentality, of however low an order, is ascribed to the plant world, and this in turn by the Zend-Aresta, oder fiber die Dinyc des Him awls and des Jenseits (1351), in which Fechner set forth a comprehensive system of metaphysics from the standpoint of natural science. Here we find the fundamental ideas of what was later to be elaborated as psychophysics. Finally, the work Ueber (lie physikolische end philosophisehc Atom•nlehre (185a) marks Fechner's definitive rupture with the speculative nature-philosophy of Schelling and his school. The remaining
years of Fechner's life (1860-87) were devoted principally to the study of psychology and as theties. To ISGO appeared the epoch-making Elemenle der Psychophysik (reprinted, 1889). We have seen that as early as 1838 Fechner was busied with psychophysical problems, and the general question of the relation of mind to body had long been before his mind.
The new science called forth lively discussion, and Fechner's personal views evoked much oppo sition. In 1877 lie published the In Suchen der Psychophysik, a reply to objections by Helm holtz, Mach, Brentano, and others, and in 1882 the Recision der Ilauptpunkte der Psychophysik, a reply to G. E. Miiller's Grundleyuny der Psy ehophysik (1878). In 1871 appeared Zur experi mentalen _Esthetik, and in 1876 the profound and comprehensive work, Vorschale der .Esthetik. In 1879 came Die Tagesansicht gegeniiber der :Vac/dans/Oa, a summary of the author's reli gious and metaphysical beliefs. Fechner's last piece of published work was, characteristically enough, an article on Weber's law (q.v.). print ed in Wundt's Philosophisehe Studien (Leipzig, 1887). He died in Leipzig. November 18, 1887. An important, mathematical treatise, the Col lektivmasslehre, was issued posthumously, under the editorship of G. F. Lipps (1897).
Fechner's general philosophy has not as yet received the attention that it deserves. His :esthetic work, on the other hand, has borne rich fruit. But his enduring fame will, of course, rest upon the Psyehophysik. In this work he laid. once and for all, the foundations of an exact psychology. Rut he did more. He worked out a series of psychophysical tnea-) urement methods (see Psvenoettrstes), which are those still employed in our lisp•1)01°g. ical laboratories. Ile carried out extended re• sear:•ips. which not oily models of scien• title patience and caution. but permanent con• trilmtions to the literature of psychology. lle levied tax upon all departments of scientific inquiry (see PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIM E(TA 0 ) fm. facts mud laws which might hear upon the lisp chophysieal relation. bringing order and con sistency into the chaos of separate observations.
Consult: Kuntze. Oasiap Theodor Ferluter: ein drutsehes (lelehrtenhben (Leipzig. 1892); Lasswit z. Custar Theodor Peehner (St (dip) rt, 189G) ; and for a bibliography of Fechner's works. Eyeliner. Element(' der Psychophysi• (2d cd., Leipzig. 1889).