Abstract What is psychology? What is it the science of? Psychology is the study of the functions and properties of the soul. The soul is supposed to be a simple substance. This answer set the agenda for research in psychology and philosophy of mind in the nineteenth century. It was developed by Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776–1841). According to him, psychology needs to be based on empirical research, mathematics, and a metaphysics of substances and properties because it cannot be an observational science. This conception of psychology was further supported in the work of Herman Lotze (1817–81). For ‘metaphysical psychologists’ like Herbart and Lotze psychology can only be a science if it helps itself to a substantial metaphysical assumption. The ‘new psychologists’ will try to free psychology from metaphysics. In this chapter I will introduce the motivation for the view that psychology is the science of the soul to prepare the ground for the following chapters.
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