The Organism (Mind and Body)

1939

Kurt Goldstein (1878–1965)

In 1933 the Nazis forced the neurologist Kurt Goldstein to leave Germany and seek asylum in Amsterdam, where he remained for a year before emigrating to the United States. While in Amsterdam he wrote the seminal volume The Organism (1939), in which he argued that there is an essential nature present in every organism that is not reducible to physiological processes.

Goldstein had long been one of Germany’s best-known scientists, most notably for his work with aphasia patients. During World War I, he established an institute to investigate and treat the psychological effects of war on soldiers. From his clinical experience, Goldstein sought to explain how humans attempted to adapt to the world, even in the face of neurological or psychological deficits. Goldstein suggested that such striving reflects a deep human urge to live as completely and fully as possible. This striving toward self-realization is the activating force for human life.

Goldstein’s argument was important to the long-running debate in psychology over whether brain functions are localized. Goldstein argued that the central nervous system operates as a network of related functions, and thus when one area of the brain is damaged, the disturbance of functioning is a result not only of local deficits but also of the impact on total brain processes. This approach reflected Goldstein’s holistic views of the functioning of the total organism. Like Gestalt Psychology, Goldstein’s ideas were part of an important trend in German science and culture in the interwar years, one that sought to revitalize German life through a reliance on older German intellectual traditions and placed the greatest value on understanding the mind and body as parts of an integral whole. Goldstein’s work was of great importance far beyond Germany, as he influenced Psychosomatic Medicine, psychotherapy, and Humanistic Psychology.

SEE ALSO Gestalt Psychology (1912), Psychosomatic Medicine (1939), Hierarchy of Needs (1943), Humanistic Psychology (1961)

“Healthy Bodies–Active Minds,” a wartime poster from the Office of War Information, Domestic Operations Branch, that advertises mind- and body-enhancing advantages offered by the United States Navy. According to neurologist Kurt Goldstein, enhancements in mind and bodily functioning are mutually reinforcing.