The Soul, or Rational Psychology

...and are currently in the process of being translated and published in their entirety under the editorship of Dr. Rudolph L. Tafel.*

At the close of the Prologue mentioned here, the author once again suggests his intention “to rise by degrees to the highest level, from which we may logically derive the principles of things, and where we may speak of the soul with relative certainty and clarity.” He does this so that, from the higher knowledge gained, he may more intelligently address a subject that—according to his original plan—would belong here: the subject of reproduction original: "generation" and “the organs through which new forms are conceived in the image of the form that preceded them.”

He carried out this intention in his work on The Brain, where he states the “soul resides in its principles” original: "principia" within the brain's outer gray matter original: "cortical or cineritious substance" (The Animal Kingdom, no. 468). He also addressed this in the treatises edited in Latin by Dr. Immanuel Tafel (Tubingen, 1848). These were also titled “Part IV of The Animal Kingdom,” which covers the carotid arteries, the senses of smell, hearing, and sight, sensation and emotion original: "affection" in general, and the intellect and its operations. We have added an abstract of these treatises, which were previously untranslated, to the present work as Appendix II. This includes the author’s Final Summary on the Senses original: "Epilogue on the Senses", or sensation in general; his General Explanation regarding Sensation and Emotion; his Rules of Harmony and Music; and his Conclusion regarding the Intellect and its Operation.

Returning now from these first principles back to the body, as he had promised, the author discusses the following in the subsequent parts of The Animal Kingdom: the membrane covering the bones and the breasts original: De Periosteo et de Mammis; edited by Tafel, Tubingen, 1849; and reproduction and its organs original: De Generatione, de Partibus Genitalibus utriusque sexus, et de Formatione Foetus in Utero (On Generation, the Genital Parts of Both Sexes, and the Formation of the Fetus in the Womb); edited by Tafel, Tubingen, 1849. Translated by Wilkinson, London, 1852.

Finally, after surveying the entire field of human anatomy and physiology, he arrives at the treatise now offered to the reader: the long-awaited Rational Psychology itself. According to his plan in the Prologue to The Animal Kingdom, this work was meant to conclude the entire series. It was intended to “comprise the subjects of Action; of the external and internal senses; of imagination and memory; also of the emotions of the lower mind original: "affections of the animus"; in Swedenborg's philosophy, the "animus" refers to the lower, sensory mind, while the "mens" refers to the higher rational mind; of the intellect (that is, of thought) and of the will; of the emotions of the rational mind; also of instinct; and lastly of the soul—its state in the body, its interactions, its emotions, and its immortality, and its state after the body dies.”

All of the subjects named here are addressed under their proper headings in this current work, with the exception of “Action.” A separate treatise on that subject, along with other short papers, was published in both Latin and an English translation in—

* The Brain: Considered Anatomically, Physiologically, and Philosophically by Emanuel Swedenborg. Edited, translated, and annotated by R. L. Tafel, A.M., Ph.D.; in four volumes. James Speirs, 36 Bloomsbury Street, London.