Gustav Theodor Fechner: biography of the father of psychophysics

While interest in the human psyche has existed since ancient times, it is not until the contributions of Wilhelm Wundt and the creation by the part of him from the first laboratory devoted to his research that is not considered the birth of psychology as a discipline scientific

But the truth is that in addition to Wundt, other authors have been of great importance in the beginnings and development of psychology as a science, the first moments of it being linked to the creation of psychophysics. In this sense, the figure of Gustav stands out. Theodor Fechner, considered the father of this discipline and of whom a brief biography is presented in this article.

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Brief biography of Gustav Theodor Fechner

Son of a Protestant pastor, Gustav Theodor Fechner was born on April 19, 1801 in Gross-Särchen, territory belonging to Germany today. His initial education was traditional and in a religious sphere, the spiritual being an aspect that would have great relevance in his life. His father died of illness when Fechner was five years old. What followed was one of the most important careers in the scientific study of psychophysics.

Years of training, marriage and teaching position

Fechner was initially interested in medicine, beginning his studies in this field at the Medizinisch-Chirurgische Akademie in Dresden. However, in 1818 he would enter the University of Leipzig, where he would meet and work with Weber. His interests were changing towards the world of physics. At 29 he would meet Clara Volkmann, whom he would marry three years later. In 1834, a year after they were married, he would accept a position at the university as a professor of physics.

It would be when he began to investigate color that he began to professionally show his interest in the psychic, initially working with color perception and subjectivity with which it was captured, carrying out different experiments in this matter.

Brief incapacitation and reflection on philosophy

In 1840 Fechner suffered a severe vision problem, caused in large part by prolonged exposure of his retina to the sun, which would blind him. The effects of blindness, along with the pressure he was subjected to as a university professor, ended rendering Fechner so incapacitated that he had to temporarily leave his teaching position at the college. He suffered a deep depression for about three years.

In this period of his life they grew his concerns regarding the essence of things and metaphysical aspects such as the soul and the body. This author considered that the physical and the spiritual were not separate elements, but rather reflected different faces of the same reality. He argued that all living things had their own soul, and even inorganic matter possessed spirit, a point of view reminiscent of that of the philosopher. Baruch spinoza. After three years, he came out of his depressed state to begin to feel feelings of well-being, euphoria and exaltation that he himself would call the pleasure principle.

The interest in the metaphysical aspects of reality and the conviction that body and mind were united would lead him to, once recovered, he would re-enter the University of Leipzig as a professor, but this time about philosophy. In 1848 he would publish Nanna; oder Über das Seelenleben der Pflanzen (Nanna or on the spiritual life of the plants) and Zend-Avesta; oder Über die Dinge des Himmels und des Jenseits, von Standpunkt der Naturbetrachtung (Zend-Avesta or on things in the sky and beyond from the point of view of nature), both works that would deal with elements such as the link between body and spirit.

The birth of psychophysics

Fechner would conduct various experiments to demonstrate the mind-body linkage, and he searched for years for a model mathematics and an equation that would determine the existence of a relationship between the material and spiritual / mental.

His research includes the analysis and observation of the models proposed by Weber and the observation of the existence of absolute and relative thresholds in the capture of stimuli, having great importance in the improvement and expansion of what is known as “Weber's Law”.

In 1860 he systematized his works and discoveries and published the book that would cause psychophysics to be born as a discipline of its own, "Elements of psychophysics", in which he explored the mathematical and physical relationships between body and mind through the investigation of sensation and perception.

He also explored aspects such as measurement errors, and his interest in the spiritual continued in aspects such as spiritism or what is currently known as parapsychology. He continued to publish various works dedicated to different aspects, such as aesthetics, and expanding his interest and research on topics close to his principle of pleasure or humor.

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Fechner's passing and legacy

Gustav Theodor Fechner died on November 1887 in Leipzig. His works have been a remarkable advance that allowed psychology to be born as a science, influencing authors such as Wundt or Sigmund Freud.

Psychophysics and the psychometry derived from itIt also continues to be an important part of current experimental psychology, especially that which has to do with behaviorism.