ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that Wilhelm Wundt's method is rigorously historical and sociological. According to Wundt, there exists a close relationship between poetry and myth: it is difficult for him even to distinguish one from the other. The primitive forms of the myth belong, like art, to the domain of fantasy. Art emerges from play and constantly returns to it. But it is distinguished from play, first, by its creative character; it does not borrow its objects, but creates them. Second, it has a collective character. Even when confined to play, art supposes a common life shared by the people who practice or enjoy it, and a continuous evolution of thought impossible outside of society. In Europe, at least, the laws of perspective used by both sculpture and painting were discovered by architecture. In primitive ornamental arts, it is crucial to consider not only what they represent, but also what they ornament. The most immediate ornamental object is the human body.
