After many years of apparent neglect, several recent reviews of the history of developmental psychology have identified Johann Nicolas Tetens' (1777) Philosophical Essays on Human Nature and its Development as one of the first major contributions to the field (Tetens, 1979/1777). Because Tetens has only recently re-emerged as an important figure in developmental psychology, most developmental scholars may be unaware of who he was and what he wrote about human development. In this article, we sketch Tetens' life and career, and describe his notably contemporary contributions to psychology in general, and developmental psychology in particular. We also consider the reasons that Tetens was previously forgotten. For example (a) he wrote (in German) over 200 years ago; (b) he was a contemporary of Kant, whose reputation may have overwhelmed his own; (c) he was perceived (by such influential authors as Wundt and Ebbinghaus) as a proponent of the antiquated theory of faculties; and (d) his theory was not perceived to contribute to the shift in emphasis from the study of general human capabilities to the development of concrete and practical abilities. © 1990, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.
