ABSTRACT
In this chapter, it remains for me to argue for the importance of a fourth social variable in the debate over the Würzburgers’ thought psychology: religion, or more precisely, the ‘conflict of confessions’ (Konfessionenstreit) in turn-of-the-century Germany. I shall try to make the following ideas plausible. First, Wundt’s opposition to the Würzburgers’ thought psychology was linked to his hostility towards Catholicism in general, and to his dislike for neoscholasticism in particular. Second, Wundt’s metaphysics as well as key assumptions of his epistemology and psychology were-by the standards and criteria of the time-Protestant in spirit if not in letter. Third, Külpe, although like Wundt a Protestant, took up philosophical positions that-to his contemporaries-tasted of Catholicism. These philosophical views can be shown to be involved in the psychological work of the Würzburgers. Fourth, of other key Würzburgers, Bühler, Marbe, and Messer all had strong Catholic backgrounds. At early stages of their respective academic careers, all three men had intended to apply later for professorial positions in ‘Catholic philosophy’. Although Bühler, Marbe, and Messer were apostates by the time they carried out their famous thought-psychological experiments, a certain sympathy towards Catholicism and neo-Thomism was still visibly present in their writings.
