113. Jürgen Bona Meyer “Temperament and the Treatment of Temperament”

Jürgen Bona Meyer is one of those philosophical writers whose individual achievements do not bear the stamp that places them in a particular system in the appropriate place, but at the same time do not conceal the indispensable background of a precisely recognizable philosophical way of thinking and attitude. In this respect we would like to place him in a row with Moriz Lazarus. Such scholars are excellently suited to dealing with questions of general interest for a larger audience. The latter then unconsciously accepts certain philosophical views which it would never acquire from strictly philosophical writings. For this reason we wish this little book the widest circulation, although we cannot deny that we were repelled by some of its very narrow-mindedness. What does it mean, for example, when Schopenhauer and Leopardi are cited as examples of how individuals whose temperament must be called pathological are formed through faulty education, and when it is then explained in more detail what the educators of the two men should have done to make mentally healthier people out of them? It still seems that few people know that the important characters of cultural development have the faults of their virtues. But apart from that, the little booklet is full of interesting psychological observations about temperaments and suggestions worth heeding for their formation.