Theodor Waitz (17 March 182121 May 1864) was a German

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

. His research in psychology brought him into touch with anthropology, and he is best known for his monumental work in six volumes, ''Die Anthropologie der Naturvölker'' ("The anthropology of peoples that live close to nature").

Biography

Waitz was born at

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

and educated at the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

and

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

. He made philosophy, philology and mathematics his chief studies, and in 1848 he was appointed associate professor of philosophy at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

(full professor, 1862). He was a severe critic of the philosophy of Fichte, Schelling and

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

, and considered psychology to be the basis of all philosophy. He died in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

Theorizing boredom

Theodor Waitz contributed significantly as an affective psychologist, particularly in the field of conceptualizing boredom. According to Waitz, boredom was about flow of thoughts. As one thought begets another, expectations on where this thought is moving towards are generated. Boredom arises when those expectations are not met. Boredom is basically associated with a break in the expected flow of thoughts because of a mismatch between expected and actual mental activity.

Works

The first four volumes of his ''Anthropologie der Naturvölker'' appeared at Leipzig, 1859–64, the last two were issued posthumously, edited by Georg Gerland. Waitz also published: * ''Grundlegung der Psychologie'' (1846). * ''Lehrbuch der Psychologie als Naturwissenschaft'' (1849). * ''Allgemeine Pedagogik'' (1852). * ''Die Indianer Nordamerikas'' (1864). * ''Aristotelis Organon graece''; a critical edition of the ''Organon'' of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

(1844).

References

* * Burton, R.F. (1864), "Notes on Waitz's ''Anthropology''", '' Anthropological Review'', Vol. II, pp. 233–50. Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waitz, Theodor 1821 births 1864 deaths German psychologists German anthropologists Academic staff of the University of Marburg People from Gotha (town)