IMG48

Ernst Mach

in 1866 hc gavc the first fuli cxposition. . . ^2h Mach's first datcd op-position to it also appeared in 1866.“ '

Helmholtz’s choicc of language was pcrhaps unfortunatc. Apparcntly lic did not mcan “infcrencc" cithcr as somcthing voluntary or as somc-thing we mcrcly take for grantcd. By “unconscious infcrcncc” lic apparcntly mcant thosc ąssociations that comc from past cxpcricncc which wc think we scc whcn we Iook at somcthing but which arc not ac-tually scnsations. Mach did not dcny thc reality of such "infcrcnces,” but rathcr rhcir cxplanatory valuc. In particular, hc tclt that such a thcory could bc uscd to “twplain” cvcnts and appearances in eonu ary ways. In modern terms, it lacked a critcrion for falsifiability.

On thc other hand, to allow "unconscious infcrcncc” introduccd thc suspicion that scnsations may bc ncither "immediatcly givcn’ to con-sciousness nor cntircly frcc from psycluc, iionscnsory associations. Fur thermorc, it suggested an altcrnativc to “nativistic” theories of spacc, namcly that in both physical and physiological contcxts space was a rclation and not a sensation.

Mach rejccted Hclmholtzs adaptation of Thomas Voung’s (1807) color thcory which allowcd for red, green, and violct as primary colors in favor of his own thcory. I Ic also rejccted Helmholtz’s (1863) attempt to relatc colors to ncrve fibers.³⁰ Mąch’s own color thcory was first pub-lishcd in 1865. Herc hc assumed six primary colors: white, black, red, ycllow, green, and blue, plus six different corrcsponding processes in the retina.³’ I Ic was not vcry satisfied with his own thcory, howcver, espccially with the rclation betwccn black and white. Bering, howewer, showed quitc an interest in it.³²

Mach has sometimes bccn considcrcd elose to thc psychological school of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), presumnbly, bccausc both men were dccply interested iri describing scnsations. Both callcd scnsations ‘‘clc-ments,” both relied heavily on introspeefion and self-expcrimcnt, and both havc often bccn accuscd of psychological “atomism.” But whilc thcrc is no denying much of their eloseness in expcrimental approach, Iittlc of it seems attributablc to Wundt’s influence on Mach or vice vcrsa. Both men were influcnced by thc same tradition in psychology, and most important, both were heavily influcnced by thc work of Hdmholtz and Fechncr. Each tried to make psychology a science and took much of his mcthodology from physics. With rcspcct to the term "element” to describc scnsations it is possiblc Mach got it from Wundt,

. but morę Jikcly both men were indebted to Fechncr.

The accusation of psychological "atomism” recjuircs commcnt. For a

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on vision to Goethe." ³¹

Purkynif, another famous physiologist-obscrw, who dcdicatcd his book

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thc present day.

Hering is perhaps most famous for his two major conflicts with Hclmholtz, which dcvclopcd roughly as follows: Hering presented his yersion of “natiyi$m” in Contributions to P/iysiology (1861-1864). Mach outlincd his six-color thcory in 1865. Hclmholtz camc out with both his thrce-color thcory and his “unconscious infcrcncc" approach in t866. And Hering, shortly after his arrival in Praguc in 1870, carcfully studied Mach’s color thcory, reorganized and added to it, and in 1878 published his own color thcory as an answer to Hclmholtz. ' he color theories of both Hering and Hclmholtz have had their advocatcs to

Hcring*s thcory took Mach’s six colors and convcrtcd them into three antagonistic pairs: black-whitc, red-green, and ydlow-bluc. Pro-fessor Boring describcd thc result:

In this thcory hc supposed thc retina to havc in it a “red-green" $ub-tancc, a ‘'yellow-blue" substancc and a “whitc-black" substancc, cach ot which can bc cxcitcd with cither of two opposing rcactions, dissimiladon

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