Abstract
F.J.J. Buytendijks's (1877-1974) conception of a christian animal psychology Animal psychology in the Netherlands has been introduced by the medical doctor and physiologist F.J.J. Buytendijk, who from 1918 on started experiments on the learning abilities of a diverse range of animals. At the time Buytendijk (1887-1974) was
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professor of Physiology and General Biology at the Free University in Amsterdam, and director of the newly built Physiological Laboratory. In a short span of time, he and his collaborators performed a number of experiments, turning the Physiological Laboratory into a pioneering Dutch research centre of animal psychology. Their results were published in the Archives Néerlandaises de physiologie de l'homme et des animaux, while Buytendijk also produced several textbooks on the subject, e.g. Psychologie der dieren (1920). Translations of these books gave him a degree of international recognition. Buytendijk's motivation to start experiments in animal psychology was to settle questions on such a fundamental issue as the nature of life. Buytendijk was a philosopher who sought to formulate a conception of biology that opposed the mechanistic tendencies of the time and concurred with his deeply religious convictions. His views on animal psychology were guided by two main principles, namely the belief in an immaterial foundation of life, and the belief in a fundamental difference between the minds of animals and man. As is made clear by an unpublished document, called Sketch [...] of a Christian Biology, he derived both principles from a fairly litteral interpretation of the Bible. The experiments itself were modelled after those of the American comparative psychologists and behaviorists, e.g. R. Yerkes and Z.Y. Kuo. They led Buytendijk to formulate a theory of animal psychology which was not particularly new or original and which mainly confirmed his preconceived ideas. In addition he formulated a vitalistic theory of life proclaiming instinct as the all explaining principle. Later he changed his position somewhat, striving toward a natural explanation of instinct and adopting a phenomenological outlook on science. Buytendijk's work in animal psychology opened up a new line of research in the Netherlands, but did not bring about a lasting tradition. The reasons for this are complex and cannot be answered without further research on Dutch animal psychologists. For the part of Buytendijk, however, it is clear that the idiosyncrasy of his philosophy-inspired views, as well as his somewhat ambiguous academic position, neither belonging to the community of biologists, nor to the one of psychologists, are responsible for the lukewarm reception of his views.
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