Beneke's  philosophy  takes  its  starting  point
in  internal  sense  perception,  which  he  considers
the  source  of  all  knowledge.  According  to  him,
the  mind  is  a  concrete  psychological  organism,
a  system  of  primitive  immaterial  forces,  which
are  capable  of  development  under  the  stimu-
lation of  the  outside  world.  These  primitive
forces  (Urvermogen)  differ  as  to  tenacity,
energy,  and  receptivity.  The  psychical  prod-
ucts caused  by  the  action  of  external  stimuli
on  the  primitive  forces  persist  in  consciousness
as  "traces"  (Spuren),  which  by  their  mani-
fold combinations  in  groups  and  scries  constitute
the  mental  life  of  the  individual.  The  so-called
faculties  of  the  older  psychology,  such  as  memory,
imagination,  etc.,  Beneke,  like  Herbart,  con-
sidered as  mere  abstractions.  Memory,  for
instance,  has  no  real  existence  as  a  faculty  apart
from  concepts,  but  is  simply  the  fundamental
quality  of  tenacity  inherent  in  the  primitive
forces  of  the  soul.  Thus  the  old  idea  of  "  for-
mal discipline "  was  shown  to  be  no  longer
tenable.
The  genetic  character  of  Beneke's  psychology
made  his  system  especially  applicable  to  peda-
gogy, and  it  is  therefore  not  surprising  to  find
that  his  influence  on  German  teachers  is  ranked
second  only  to  that  of  Herbart.  Thus,  Diester-
weg,  the  foremost  Prussian  educator  of  the
last  century,  as  well  as  Dittes,  who  as  director
of  the  Vienna  "  Paedagogium  "  did  a  great
work  for  education  in  Austria,  were  both  ardent
admirers  and  followers  of  Beneke.
Beneke's  works  include,  besides  those  men-
tioned above:  Erfahrungseelenlehre  als  Grund-
lage  alles  Wissens  ( Empirical  Psychology  as  the
Foundation  of  all  Knowledge,  Berlin,  1820).
Grundlinien  des  naturlichen  Systems  der  prak-
tischen  Philosophic  (Principles  of  the  Natural
System  of  Practical  Philosophy,  3  vols.  1837-1841),
which  the  author  considered  as  his  most  success-
ful work.
