RETHINKING THE BIRTH OF SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOPHYSICS BETWEEN PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

This study critically examines the canonical interpretation of the emergence of
scientific psychology, traditionally centered on the figure of Wilhelm Wundt and
the founding of the Leipzig laboratory in 1879. Methodologically, the research is
conducted through a historical-conceptual documentary analysis, aimed at reviewing
the theoretical and scientific antecedents that preceded the institutionalization
of the discipline. Based on this review, the study reconstructs the process of
convergence between philosophical psychology and natural sciences during the
nineteenth century. Within this framework, the contributions of the psychophysics of
Weber and Fechner are analyzed as a fundamental antecedent for the formulation
of a quantitative relationship between physical stimulus and subjective experience.
Likewise, Wundt’s physiological psychology is examined as a methodological
synthesis that articulates the study of the internal and external worlds through the
study of sensation. The results of the analysis make it possible to reconsider the
birth of scientific psychology not as an abrupt rupture, but rather as the result of
a gradual process of convergence between philosophical and scientific traditions.