Hi Steve,

It was energizing to read James ask the following questions:

"For why should this absolute god-given Faculty retain so
much better the events of yesterday than those of last
year, and, best of all, those of an hour ago? Why, again, in
old age should its grasp of childhood's events seem
firmest? Why should illness and exhaustion enfeeble it?
Why should repeating an experience strengthen our
recollection of it? Why should drugs, fevers, asphyxia, and
excitement resuscitate things long since forgotten?"


And it made me feel as though students of psychology would benefit from a
thorough look at James rather than simply memorize him as The Father
of *American
*Psychology.  I am excited to see more of the review and hope to return to
a deeper appreciation of the source material when time permits.

Against the back-drop of our American struggle with meaning and well-being,
I was also struck by an awareness of so much social and mental effort going
in to this effort of self-recognition and verification of reality with
others.  I recall that James himself led a life burdened by depression and
health concerns, and (here is my usual refrain) that he reported hikes into
nature to be curative.

Thank you for sharing your course,

-Chance

On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 5:49 PM, Steven Quackenbush <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Mark,
>
> Thank you very much for the insights and links.
> My list of guiding questions is evolving, and the issues you raise are
> encouraging me to reconsider what I'm after as I study the text.  I agree
> that it is especially important to consider the question: "*w**ho was
> James 'arguing' with and what was he trying to accomplish -- in the context
> of his times*?"
>
> I also look forward to studying the work of Pierce and other
> contemporaries of William James.  I'd like our students to come away from
> the class with an understanding of (a) the psychology of William James in
> its historical context, as well as (b) how James might speak to the issues
> psychologists are grappling with in 2018.
>
> More to come...
>
> ~ Steve Q.
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 2:25 PM, Mark Stahlman <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Steve:
>>
>> I'm no expert on James but I know a bit about his "times," so if I were
>> tackling this, some of the questions I'd ask might include --
>>
>> 1) Who was William James?  What was *his* own "psychology" and how was it
>> "formed"?
>>
>> 2) Who was James "arguing" with and what was he trying to accomplish --
>> in the context of his times?
>>
>> One of his contemporaries who I do know something about is Charles
>> Pierce.  Many lump them together as "pragmatists" but, in fact, Pierce
>> quite deliberately separated himself and called his approach "pragmaticist"
>> so that no one would confuse the two (no, it didn't work).
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wiki
>> pedia.org_wiki_Charles-5FSanders-5FPeirce&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnp
>> nzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpyb
>> o6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=TwZMVpxpDzN4iLckzX6jg6pnl17lXUbIh4i
>> _U-Hbyhw&s=XoFR9U7N_21x4b6sQ9_hYNPH79DegVxmUqoMJ3B2kFY&e=
>>
>> Btw, my study of Pierce is largely through John Deely, the recently
>> deceased semiotician.  Deely's only PhD student, Brian Kemple is a Fellow
>> at my Center.
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wiki
>> pedia.org_wiki_John-5FDeely&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4
>> uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgj
>> O2gOz4-A&m=TwZMVpxpDzN4iLckzX6jg6pnl17lXUbIh4i_U-Hbyhw&s=1Ku
>> WXV54ASrno6ufdQNNGiPMpP7e86ytB7U-nFjECHw&e=
>>
>> The James text that I've spent some time with is 1901-02 "The Varieties
>> of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature," which -- as was common
>> at a time when *seances* were typical upper-class Saturday night
>> entertainment, Psychic Societies were being formed (James co-founded the
>> ASPR in 1884) and the Theosophical Society (founded in NYC in 1875) was
>> capturing many people's imagination -- would seem to be relevant to how
>> James treats "Psychology" (or perhaps not).
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wiki
>> pedia.org_wiki_American-5FSociety-5Ffor-5FPsychical-5FResear
>> ch&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=
>> HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=TwZMVpxpDzN4iL
>> ckzX6jg6pnl17lXUbIh4i_U-Hbyhw&s=KxKqr-lMEIr5Mr1h3SdaNqW_-GuT
>> zAUCCiBWjFxjg5Q&e=
>>
>> I recently visited the Edison Laboratory in nearby West Orange and
>> confirmed with the experts there that Thomas Edison was *deeply* committed
>> to "talking with dead people" (as was Alex. Graham Bell &al).  Electricity
>> had many definite influences on the behaviors of the time.
>>
>> So, for James, the "psychology" of his times included ectoplasm and
>> tapping spirits.  My guess is that this could be important for your own
>> study of his work . . . !!
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> P.S. The best account of the "occult" developments in those times is
>> probably the two-volume "Occult Underground" and "Occult Establishment"
>> (i.e. James' own career) by James Webb (alas, now expensive but I think
>> there are scans out there).
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Occult-2DEstablishment-2DJames-2DWebb_dp_0875484344&
>> d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo
>> 1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=TwZMVpxpDzN4iLckz
>> X6jg6pnl17lXUbIh4i_U-Hbyhw&s=B9FoZBUdcHzDetBOCD36ft_5fjUmDI_
>> k8zrF36zsWSQ&e=
>>
>> Quoting Steven Quackenbush <[log in to unmask]>:
>>
>> Dear ToK community,
>>>
>>> As mentioned in a previous post, I am co-teaching a course this fall
>>> (entitled *Philosophical Psychology*) in which we have adopted William
>>> James'
>>> (1890) *Principles of Psychology* as our chief text.  In preparation, I
>>> am
>>> working my way through the entire book this summer.  This reading project
>>> is guided by three questions:
>>>
>>> 1) *How does James conceive the discipline of psychology? *
>>>
>>> 2) In a NYT article (that Gregg forwarded to members of this listserv),
>>> David Brooks included William James on his list of "personalists."   If
>>> personalism "is a philosophic tendency built on the infinite uniqueness
>>> and
>>> depth of each person" (Brooks), *in what respect(s) does The Principles
>>> of
>>> Psychology offer a personalistic account of the human organism?*
>>>
>>> 3) *Is there an ethics implicit in Principles of Psychology? *  [If so,
>>> how
>>> might it be characterized?]
>>>
>>>
>>> Chapter 1 of *The Principles of Psychology *offers a sketch of James'
>>> conception of psychology as a scholarly discipline.  I consider this
>>> chapter to be a self-standing document (even as I imagine that
>>> subsequence
>>> sections of the text will enrich his opening reflections).  My outline of
>>> this introductory material is included in the attachment entitled
>>> "Principles of Psychology Chapter 1"
>>>
>>> My approach to studying the remainder of the text will not take the form
>>> of
>>> a page-by-page outline.  Rather, what I'm trying to do is identify the
>>> conceptual "seeds" that seem most likely to bear fruit (in light of the
>>> concerns guiding my reading).  The second attachment (labelled "An
>>> Exploration of James' Principles of Psychology") represents my attempt to
>>> highlight those aspects of James' discussion *in chapters 2-8* that seem
>>> most relevant to the questions posed above.  This document does not
>>> presume
>>> familiarity with* The Principles of Psychology. *  I make heavy use of
>>> quotations from James' text and I try to clarify passages that strike me
>>> as
>>> obscure (yet important).   Participants on this listserv might be
>>> especially interested in (a) James' distinction between *knowledge of
>>> acquaintance* and *knowledge-about *(p. 2), and (b) the discussion of
>>> *sources
>>> of error* in psychology, including (1) the misleading influence of
>>> language
>>> (p. 3), and the so-called Psychologist's Fallacy (pp. 3-6).
>>>
>>> Please note that this is a work in progress (subject to revision based on
>>> feedback from others and my continued study of the text).
>>>
>>> My reading schedule for the remainder of the summer is as follows:
>>>
>>>    - July 24: Chapters 9-16
>>>    - August 7: Chapters 17-22
>>>    - August 21: Chapters 23-28
>>>
>>> I welcome your input on the attached notes (or any other aspect of this
>>> project).
>>>
>>> ~ Steve Q
>>>
>>> P.S., The complete text of *The Principles of Psychology* is available
>>> online here: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__urldefense.proofpoint&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=7wbjSd76zih6QKleC0XDpKbF-3Yw6RmXPKefjMPbdck&s=troKEmF6zDqCRZgcr4QHptp4i7xJymOa0h2K_OywbEQ&e=.
>>> com/v2/url?u=http-3A__psychclassics.yorku.ca_James_Principle
>>> s_index.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nB
>>> Emmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=5Pqqa
>>> nfy7OhvaKuNcrR1FQI_MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c&s=oVxHIrvbN2eVy17Pd6B
>>> Fz5SuuEARYLzwz1QUxkp6mbg&e=
>>>
>>> I am using the following print edition:
>>>
>>>    - Volume 1:   https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__urldefense.proofpoint&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=7wbjSd76zih6QKleC0XDpKbF-3Yw6RmXPKefjMPbdck&s=troKEmF6zDqCRZgcr4QHptp4i7xJymOa0h2K_OywbEQ&e=
>>> .com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.com_Principles-2DPsycho
>>> logy-2DVol-2D1_dp_&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSj
>>> Odn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&
>>> m=5Pqqanfy7OhvaKuNcrR1FQI_MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c&s=nijv9-
>>> bYCDPNGwT0BNtzUHlmBA0muXAZnNbKh5TFlQ4&e=
>>>    0486203816/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525970541&sr=1-2&
>>>    keywords=principles+of+psychology+william+james
>>>    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.a
>>> mazon.com_Principles-2DPsychology-2DVol-2D1_dp_0486203816_re
>>> f-3Dsr-5F1-5F2-3Fs-3Dbooks-26ie-3DUTF8-26qid-3D1525970541-
>>> 26sr-3D1-2D2-26keywords-3Dprinciples-2Bof-2Bpsychology-
>>> 2Bwilliam-2Bjames&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjO
>>> dn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m
>>> =5Pqqanfy7OhvaKuNcrR1FQI_MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c&s=Sx_bqL9uroWGU
>>> RckR50FVhB5IyHyrhqUvapUt9TSi3I&e=>
>>>    - Volume 2:  https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__urldefense.proofpoint&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=7wbjSd76zih6QKleC0XDpKbF-3Yw6RmXPKefjMPbdck&s=troKEmF6zDqCRZgcr4QHptp4i7xJymOa0h2K_OywbEQ&e=.
>>> com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.com_Great-2DBooks-2DWester
>>> n-2DWorld-2DWilliam_dp&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB
>>> 9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz
>>> 4-A&m=5Pqqanfy7OhvaKuNcrR1FQI_MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c&s=EraaCvdV
>>> R4a70KAatAgN0z-Qv9VZ1wdz9_YdImAugeU&e=
>>>    /B000HMOKB6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525970655&sr=1-
>>>    1&keywords=great+books+of+the+western+world+53+william+james
>>>    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.a
>>> mazon.com_Great-2DBooks-2DWestern-2DWorld-2DWilliam_dp_
>>> B000HMOKB6_ref-3Dsr-5F1-5F1-3Fs-3Dbooks-26ie-3DUTF8-26qid-
>>> 3D1525970655-26sr-3D1-2D1-26keywords-3Dgreat-2Bbooks-
>>> 2Bof-2Bthe-2Bwestern-2Bworld-2B53-2Bwilliam-2Bjames&d=
>>> DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=
>>> HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=5Pqqanfy7Ohva
>>> KuNcrR1FQI_MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c&s=EG1lG5c9xTExr2mp0DISYWeII9N
>>> PUrWJZvTM2Sa4BPg&e=>
>>>
>>> ############################
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