Abstract

This essay is, in the first instance, an exercise in intellectual archaeology. My aim is to bring back into view an idiosyncratic and largely forgotten approach to the theory of judgement that was developed around 1900 by Theodor Lipps, a pioneering but now rather obscure figure from the history of psychology. But I also hope to show that Lipps’ approach to the phenomenon of judgement is not just of antiquarian interest. Accordingly, my second aim is more narrowly philosophical: I propose to assess the adequacy of Lipps’ approach to judgement by testing it against two objections — one phenomenological and one logical.