Original scientific paper

Elza Kučera as a philosopher

Luka Boršić orcid.org/0000-0001-7432-7880 ; Institut za filozofiju, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Abstract

The main argument of this text is that Elza Kučera, besides being the first female librarian and the first experimental psychologist in Croatia, can also be declared to be the first experimental philosopher. This is not a mere consequence of the fact that Kučera was the first Croatian woman born in Croatia who obtained a doctoral degree in philosophy (in 1909 at the University of Zurich). Although her only permanent job was librarian in the National and University Library in Zagreb, which she did until her retirement, and most of her scientific work is characterized as psychological, a more detailed analysis of her texts shows a very strong influence of her philosophical education upon her way of thinking. First, her choice of topics for most of her works is traditionally philosophical: will, ethical behaviour, motivation, feelings, their mutual relationships etc. Second, these topics Kučera approaches in a two steps: first she obtains empirical data either by doing some simple psychological experiments in her own private psychological laboratory or by relying on the works of other early psychologists/philosophers (most notable Gustav Störring), and then, using typically philosophical methods such as introspection, conceptual analysis, logical inferences and deductions, arrives to abstract and universal conclusions. This specific scientific procedure resembles what is nowadays described as experimental philosophy.

Keywords

Elza Kučera; psychology; experimental philosophy; psychologism; Gustav Störring

Hrčak ID:

240939

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/240939

Publication date:

25.12.2019.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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