Chapter X: The æsthetic Sentiment 328

Its origin: the theory of play, and its variants—Æsthetic
activity is the play of the creative imagination in its
disinterested form. Its instinctive nature—Transition from
simple play to aesthetic play: primitive art of pantomimic
dancing—Derivation of the arts in motion; of the arts at
rest—Why was æsthetic activity evolved?—Art had, in the
beginning, a social utility—Evolution of the æsthetic
sentiment—Its sociological aspect: progression from the
strictly social character towards individualism in the
different arts—Its anthropological aspect: progress from
strictly human character towards beings and things as a
whole—The feeling for nature—The feeling for the sublime
only partially belongs to æsthetics—Its evolution: it is
not æsthetic in its origin, but becomes so—Why there are
not two æsthetic senses—The sense of the comic—Psychology
of laughter—It has more than one cause—Theory of
superiority. Theory of discord—These correspond to two
distinct stages, one of which is foreign to
æsthetics—Physiology of laughter. Theory of nervous
derivation—Theory of tickling—Pathology. Are there cases
of complete æsthetic insensibility? Difficulties and
transpositions of the subject—Pathological function of
emotion: pessimistic tendencies, megalomania, influence of
unconscious activity—Pathological aspects of the creative
imagination; its degrees—Reason why the intense image, in
artists, does not pass into action; ways in which it is
modified—Cause of this deviation; its advantages.

CHAPTER XI.

THE INTELLECTUAL SENTIMENT 368

Its origin: the craving for knowledge—Its
evolution—Utilitarian period: surprise, astonishment,
interrogation—Disinterested period: transition
forms—Classification according to intellectual
states—Classification according to emotional states:
dynamic forms, static forms—Period of passion: its
rarity—Pathology—Simple doubt—Dramatic doubt—_Folie du
doute_—Mysticism in science: deviation comes, not from the
object, but from the method of research.

CHAPTER XII.

NORMAL CHARACTERS 380

Necessity of the synthetic point of view in
psychology—Historical summary of theories of character:
physiological direction, psychological direction—Two marks
of the real character: unity, stability—Elimination of
acquired characters—Classificatory procedure: four
degrees—Genera: the sensitive, the active, the
apathetic—Species—Secondary function of the intellect: its
mode of action—Sensitives: the humble, the contemplative,
the analytical, the purely emotional—Active type: the
medium, the superior—Apathetic type: pure type,
intelligent type, calculators—Varieties: the
sensitive-active, the apathetic-active, the
apathetic-sensitive, the temperate—Substitutes for
character: partial characters; (_a_) intellectual form,
(_b_) emotional form.

CHAPTER XIII.

ABNORMAL AND MORBID CHARACTERS 405

Are all normal characters mutually equivalent?—Attempt at
classification according to their value-Marks of abnormal
character: absence of unity, impossibility of
prevision—Class I. Successive contradictory characters:
anomalies, conversions; their psychological mechanism.
Alternating characters—Second class: Contradictory
coexistent characters. Incomplete form: contradiction
between principles and tendencies. Complete form.
Contradiction between one tendency and another—Third
class: Unstable characters. Their physiological and
psychological characters—Psychological infantilism.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE DECAY OF THE AFFECTIVE LIFE 423

Law of Decay: its formula, and its general application in
psychology—Difficulties where the affective life is
concerned—Successive disappearance of the disinterested
emotions (the æsthetic and intellectual), of the
altruistic (moral and social), the ego-altruistic
(religious feeling, ambition, etc.), and lastly, the
egoistic—Converse proof: cases of arrested
development—Theory of degeneration—Its relation to decay.

CONCLUSION 438

The place of the feelings in psychic life—They come
first—Physiological proofs—Psychological proofs.