FECHNER, GUSTAV THEODOR. - German philosopher, b. at Gross-Särchen (Lower Lusatia) on 19 Apr. 1801, d. after a long university career at Leipzig on 16 Nov. 1887. In his thought, strongly imbued with naturalistic ideas and with theosophy, the most disparate principles converge, from materialism to idealism: in any case he represented a reaction against the a priori method of the Kantians and Hegelians of the school.
In Nanna oder das Seelenleben der Pflanzen (Leipzig 1848) he defended universal cosmic animism, which in Zend Avesta (ibid. 1851) takes on a hermetic and theosophical tone. His fame is linked to the Elemente der Psychophysik (ibid. 1860), in which he set out the well-known psychological law that bears his name, according to which "the intensity of the sensation is equal to the logarithm of the corresponding stimulus" (S = C log. R); that is, in order for the sensation to increase in arithmetic ratio, the stimulus must increase in geometric ratio. With it Fechner gave a decisive development to modern experimental psychology.
Bibliography2 worksK. Lasswitz, G. Th. F., Leipzig 1866, 3rd ed. Stuttgart 1910; M. Wentscher, F. und Lotze, Munich 1925.
BIBL.: K. Lasswitz, G. Th. F., Leipzig 1866, 3rd ed. Stuttgart 1910; M. Wentscher, F. und Lotze, Munich 1925.
Fabro, Cornelio. “Fechner, gustav theodor.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, coll. 1068–1069. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/fechner-gustav-theodor.
MLA
Fabro, Cornelio. “Fechner, gustav theodor.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, coll. 1068–1069. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/fechner-gustav-theodor.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_fechner_gustav_theodor,
author = {Fabro, Cornelio},
title = {Fechner, gustav theodor},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {1068--1069},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fechner-gustav-theodor}
}
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