Elements of Folk Psychology: Outlines of a Psychological History of the Development of Mainkind

Elements of Folk Psychology (19001920) was the last work produced the Wilhelm Wundt. As the subtitle of the book emphasizes, it offers outlines of a psychological history of the development of mankind. It is a descriptive account of human development and deals at some length with the forms of original tribal organizations and of the consummation of marriage, with soul, demon and totem cults, and with various phenomena of somewhat primitive culture. On the other hand, it describes in barest outlines the social movements that reach over not the historical times, such as the founding of states and cities, the origin of legal systems, and the like. The study relies largely on Suppositions and hypotheses because facts at the author’s disposal did not allow him to point out various transitions with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, the conjectured process moves on the factual plane from the beginning to the end.