La forza nell'uomo. Conservazione dell'energia e parallelismo psicofisico in Fechner

The Force in Man. Conservation of energy and psychophysical parallelism in Fechner. The essay examines the fifth chapter of Fechner’s Elements of psychophysics, analyzing its attempt to reconcile the latest achievements in modern science – such as the formulation of the principle of conservation f energy by Helmholtz – with the spiritual sphere of mind, will, and freedom. In so doing, the paper highlights the “non-reductionistic” approach adopted by Fechner, who defends a radical form of materialistic mechanism on the one hand, but also unties it from its usual deterministic consequences on the other hand. Finally, the essay evaluates Fechner’s use of the principle of conservation of energy against the wider background of his conception about the relationship between science and metaphysics, showing how this scientific principle becomes an argument in favor of Fechner’s theory of the world-soul.