The soul of Spain: Spanish scholastic psychology and the making of modern subjectivity (1875–1931).

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide an approach to the study of the relations between psychology and Roman Catholic Scholasticism in the making of Spain as a modern nation-state. The crucial period in this process-extending from the beginning of King Alfonso XII's reign in 1875 to the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931-is considered. Attention is focused on Ethics textbooks published by Spanish Scholastic authors throughout the period. Through these school manuals, young students were trained in the ideas of citizenship and social coexistence held by the Catholic Church. An analysis of these didactic, programmatic works shows the central role played by the theory of faculties and modern psychological technologies (psychopedagogy, psychopathology, psychotechnics) in the Scholastic outlook. Thus, an attempt is made to show that psychology was used by Spanish Scholasticism as a way of legitimating a reactionary view of Spain, which eventually led to the emergence of National-Catholicism as the official ideology of the Franco regime (1939-1975).

Claves psicológicas fundacionales del autogobierno ciudadano: la “psicología del pueblo español” como estudio de caso (1902-1918)

“…En este caso, el proceso identitario se basaría en la continuidad con la tradición imperial y católica de España. La psicología como teoría y tecnología de la subjetividad nacional es, en todo caso, un recurso fraguado e impulsado por el nacionalismo liberal (sobre estas cuestiones se puede consultar Castro, Lafuente, & Jiménez, 2009).…”

Historiography of psychology in Spain: The last decade.

“…The 18th and 19th centuries have also been of interest to Spanish historians of psychology. In this case, their research was carried out along the following lines: the problem of animal mind and the theories about the brain in medical works of the period (Llavona & Bandrés, 2006, 2008); the reception of ideas about the mind in Spanish science fiction literature (Ibarz & Villegas, 2000); the assumptions concerning mental illness and monomania in doctoral dissertations presented during the second half of the 19th century (García & Miguel, 2001); and the influence on psychology of religious and neoscholastic thought (Castro, Lafuente, & Jiménez, 2008, 2009; Jiménez, 2005; Jiménez & Castro, 2009; Lafuente, Loredo, & Ferrándiz, 2005).…”

“…Focused on the history of culture from a psychological perspective, several studies have shown interest in the reception of psychical research and spiritualism in Catalonia at the turn of the 20th century (Mülberger, Balltondre, Vilaplana, Leal, & Moreno, 2009; Vilaplana & Mülberger, 2003). The role of psychological ideas in the construction of national identities in Spain and in Latin America was analyzed by another set of papers (Blanco & Castro, 2005; Carpintero, 2001b; Castro, Lafuente, & Jiménez, 2008, 2009; Jiménez, 2003, 2006, 2008).…”

Rudolf Allers’ conception of neurosis as a metaphysical conflict

“…As described by Kugelmann (2011: 38), Neoscholasticism was a return to classical Greek philosophy, such as Aristotelian thought, which was perfected by medieval Catholic philosophers such as St Thomas Aquinas; it had two main goals: to integrate the new sciences with the philosophia perennis and to protect the teachings of the Catholic Church, especially as they were formulated by Saint Thomas Aquinas, from the negative effects of science. In relation to this, from the last decade of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century, both Neoscholatic philosophy and psychology became quite important in the USA 1 (Gillespie, 2001; Kugelmann, 2005; Ross, 1992; Valbuena, 1955), South America (Oviedo, 2012; Piñeda, 2005) and Western Europe (Carpintero, 1984; Castro, Lafuente and Jiménez, 2009).…”