Origin of "Schema"
Folks, A while ago, I recall there being a discussion on this list about the origin of the term "schema" in psychology, particularly (if I recall correctly) as the term was used by Piaget and Bartlett. I suggested at the time that the term found its "psychological" origin in Kant, but many other were scpetical and I was unable to find a direct intellectual path (if such a thing ever exists) between Piaget or Bartlett to Kant. Today, however, I was reading through James Mark Baldwin's chapter in Carl Murchison's _History of Psychology in Autobiography_ (1930), and came across the following passage: "The function of 'make-believe' or semblance is found to have an essential place in mental development. It progresses from the play of childhood, through the imaginative or "schematic"[16] hypotheses used in reasoning, up to the idealizations of art." (pp. 13-14. The footnote reads: "[16] This use of the word 'schematic' together with 'schematism' is in line with Kant's doctrine of the 'schema,' a 'presentation' or image lying between imagination and judgment. The theory of the 'schema' in logic is explained in the article 'Knowledge and Imagination.' Psychol. Rev., May, 1908." This may be the very connection I had sought. Piaget's theory of child development is widely recognized to have derived in significant ways from Baldwin's. I'm not sure of Bartlett's training, but it is certainly reasonable to assume that he read the work of Baldwin, who was one of the foremost psychologists of his day -- President of the APA, co-founder (with J. McK. Cattell) of _Psychological Review_, and author of one of the most influential pre-Boring English-language histories of psychology, among other things. Better late than never... (I hope). :-) Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 e-mail: christo@yorku.ca phone: (416) 736-5115 ext. 66164 fax: (416) 736-5814 http://www.yorku.ca/christo