James Sully

James Sully
Sully in about 1880
Born	(1842-03-03)3 March 1842 Whitton, London
Died	Richmond, Surrey
Occupation	Psychologist
Nationality	British
Genre	Non-fiction
Literary movement	Associationism
Signature

James Sully (3 March 1842 – 1 November 1923) was an English psychologist.

Biography

He was born at Bridgwater, Somerset the son of J.W. Sully, a liberal Baptist merchant and ship-owner. He was educated at the Independent College, Taunton, Regent's Park College, University of Göttingen, where he studied under Lotze, and at Humboldt University, Berlin where he studied under DuBois-Reymond and Helmholtz.

Sully was originally destined for the nonconformist ministry and in 1869 became classical tutor at the Baptist College, Pontypool. In 1871, however, he adopted a literary and philosophic career. Between 1892 and 1903, he was Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic at University College London, where he was succeeded by Carveth Read.

An adherent of the associationist his school of psychology, his views had great affinity with those of Alexander Bain. He wrote monographs on subjects such as pessimism, and psychology textbooks, some of the first in English, including The Human Mind (1892). His 1881 Illusions was commended by both Freud and Wundt.

Sully opened an experimental psychology laboratory at University College London in January 1889. In 1901 he was one of the founder members of the British Psychological Society and in fact personally called the meeting at which the Society was formed.

Sully died in Richmond, Surrey on 1 November 1923.

Works

Books

• Sensation and Intuition (1874)
• Pessimism (1877)
• Illusions (1881; 4th ed., 1895)
• Outlines of Psychology (1884; many editions)
• Teacher's Handbook of Psychology (1886)
• Studies of Childhood (1895)
• Children's Ways (1897)
• An Essay on Laughter (1902)
• Italian Travel Sketches (1912)
• My Life and Friends (1918)

Selected articles

• "The Æsthetics of Human Character," The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XV (1871)
• "The Development of Belief," The Westminster Review, Vol. XCVII (1872)
• "Recent Experiments with the Senses," The Westminster Review, Vol. XCVIII (1872)
• "The Basis of Music Sensation," The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XVII (1872)
• "Fowler's Inductive Logic," The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XVIII (1872)
• "The Perception of Music Form," The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XX (1873)
• "On the Nature and Limits of Musical Expression," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXIII (1874)
• "The Opera," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXVI (1875)
• "Physiological Psychology in Germany," Mind, Vol. I (1876)
• "The Pessimist's View of Life," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XXXIII (1876)
• "Hartmann's Philosophy of the Unconscious," The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XXVI (1876)
• "Poetic Imagination and Primitive Conception," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XXXIV (1876)
• "The Laws of Dream-Fancy," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XXXIV (1876)
• "Art and Psychology," Mind, Vol. I (1876)
• "The Laws of Dream-Fancy," Mind, Vol. II (1877)
• "Civilisation and Noise," The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XXX (1878)
• "Pessimism and Poetry," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XXXVII (1878)
• "The Undefinable in Art," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XXXVIII (1878)
• "The Question of Visual Perception in Germany," Part II, Mind, Vol. III (1878)
• "Animal Music," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XL (1879)
• "Harmony of Colours," Mind, Vol. IV (1879)
• "The Pleasure of Visual Form," Part II, The Popular Science Monthly, Vols. XVI-XVII (1880)
• "Illusions of Memory," Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XLI (1880)
• "Babies and Science," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XLIII (1881)
• "Illusions of Introspection," Mind, Vol. VI (1881)
• "George Eliot’s Art," Mind, Vol. VI (1881)
• "Scientific Optimism," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. X (1881)
• "Versatility," Mind, Vol. VII (1882)
• "On the Training of the Imagination," The Journal of Education, Vol. VI (1884)
• "Comparison," Mind, Vol. X (1885)
• "Genius and Insanity," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XVII (1885)
• "Genius and Precocity," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XIX (1886)
• "A Learned Infant," The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. VIII, New Series (1887)
• "Universal Genius," The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. CCLXIII (1887)
• "Aesthetics". In: Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th edition (1875–1889)
• "Dreams as Related to Literature," The Forum, Vol. VII (1889)
• "The Luxury of Pity," The Forum, Vol. VIII (1889)
• "The Future of Fiction," The Forum, Vol. IX (1890)
• "Mental Elaboration," Mind, Vol. XV (1890)
• "The Education of a Genius," The English Illustrated Magazine, Vol. VIII (1891)
• "Is Man the Only Reasoner?," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXX (1891)
• "The Dream as a Revelation," Fortnightly Review, Vol. LIX (1893)
• "The Humorous Aspect of Childhood," The National Review, Vol. XXVII (1896)
• "The Child in Recent English Literature," Fortnightly Review, Vol. LXI (1897)
• "The Uses of Humour," The National Review, Vol. XXIX (1897)
• "Philosophy and Modern Culture," The Fortnightly Review, Vol. LXVII (1900)
• "Sir Leslie Stephen," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XCV (1905)
• "Henry Sidgwick," The Macmillan's Magazine, Vol. I, New Series (1906)
• "Aesthetics." In: Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. I, 11th edition (1910)
• "Herder, Johann Gottfried von (1744-1803)." In: Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XIII, 11th edition (1910)

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Attribution

• (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External links

• Works by James Sully at Project Gutenberg
• Works by James Sully at Hathi Trust
• Works by James Sully at JSTOR