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Bartlett JamesWard18431925 1925
Bartlett JamesWard18431925 1925
Author(s): F. C. Bartlett
Source: The American Journal of Psychology , Jul., 1925, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Jul., 1925), pp.
449-453
Published by: University of Illinois Press
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to The American Journal of Psychology
talked about all the usual subjects, and some unusual ones:
Is Logic a Science or an Art?, various educational questions,-
and once Ward indicated the trend of his political development
by stoutly upholding universal suffrage for women. They said
to him: "You are not much of a draughtsman, but you have
the gift of the gab. Why not be a lawyer or a parson?" And a
parson he determined to be.
He became a student at the Congregational Training Col-
lege which was then at Spring Hill, near Birmingham, and
remained there nearly six years. His study of theology stimu-
lated and developed the philosophical interests which were later
to become dominant in his life. Towards the end of his student
career he came to Cambridge to preach at the Congregational
chapel and was invited to its pastorate. But about the same
time he obtained a studentship which gave him the chance of
study in Germany, and he proceeded to Berlin and later to
G6ttingen. There, although he continued to pursue his theo-
logical studies, he became more and more interested in physiol-
ogy and philosophy, and worked at the first with Ludwig, and
at the second with Lotze.
Lotze attracted and influenced him profoundly. The wide
scientific interests and attainments of the elder man, his power
of keen psychological analysis, his constant reiteration of the
fundamental importance of life and activity, and the ethical
strain underlying his philosophy all appealed strongly to the
personality of Ward and became an abiding force in his own
life and thought.
In due course he returned to England, to find the Cambridge
pastorate still open; and the invitation to him to fill the post
was renewed. He accepted with much hesitation, feeling that
he no longer held orthodox religious views; and he refused to be
ordained. For nine months he was a Nonconformist minister.
Again he was not happy. His theological views were far in
advance of those of his congregation and he was too intellectual-
ly honest to attempt any disguise of the difficulty. He resigned
the pastorate, and became a Non-Collegiate student at the
University. Then he learned that an open scholarship in
"Moral Science" was offered by Trinity College. He entered
for the examination, won the scholarship, and thereafter his
work lay mainly in academic circles.
This was in I872. In I874 he became M. A. of London Uni-
versity, winning the gold medal in philosophy. The year fol-
lowing he was placed by himself in the first class of the old
Moral Sciences Tripos at Cambridge, and in the same year was
elected to a Fellowship at Trinity College. In I88I he became
a Lecturer at Trinity, and in I897 was elected to a Chair in
1 23, 457-460.