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: "who 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-5FSande rs-5FPeirce&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnp nzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nB Emmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpyb o6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=TwZMV pxpDzN4iLckzX6jg6pnl17lXUbIh4i _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=HPo1I XYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgj O2gOz4-A&m=TwZMVpxpDzN4iLckzX6 jg6pnl17lXUbIh4i_U-Hbyhw&s=1Ku WXV54ASrno6ufdQNNGiPMpP7e86ytB 7U-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-5FSoci ety-5Ffor-5FPsychical-5FResear ch&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb 7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r= HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-j IYBgjO2gOz4-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=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vC I4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo 1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYB gjO2gOz4-A&m=TwZMVpxpDzN4iLckz X6jg6pnl17lXUbIh4i_U-Hbyhw&s=B 9FoZBUdcHzDetBOCD36ft_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=http-3A__psychcla ssics.yorku.ca_James_Principle s_index.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnp nzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nB Emmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpyb o6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=5Pqqa nfy7OhvaKuNcrR1FQI_MPCK-jULqaK EBfFGK5c&s=oVxHIrvbN2eVy17Pd6B Fz5SuuEARYLzwz1QUxkp6mbg&e=

I am using the following print edition:

   - Volume 1:   https://urldefense.proofpoint .com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www. amazon.com_Principles-2DPsycho logy-2DVol-2D1_dp_&d=DwIBaQ&c= eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSj Odn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClog P-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A& m=5Pqqanfy7OhvaKuNcrR1FQI_ MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c&s=nijv9- bYCDPNGwT0BNtzUHlmBA0muXAZnNbK h5TFlQ4&e=
   0486203816/ref=sr_1_2?s=books &ie=UTF8&qid=1525970541&sr=1- 2&
   keywords=principles+of+psycho logy+william+james
   <https://urldefense.proofpoin t.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.a mazon.com_Principles-2DPsychol ogy-2DVol-2D1_dp_0486203816_re f-3Dsr-5F1-5F2-3Fs-3Dbooks-26i e-3DUTF8-26qid-3D1525970541- 26sr-3D1-2D2-26keywords-3Dprin ciples-2Bof-2Bpsychology- 2Bwilliam-2Bjames&d=DwIBaQ&c=e LbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjO 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__www.ama zon.com_Great-2DBooks-2DWester n-2DWorld-2DWilliam_dp&d=DwIBa Q&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB 9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhK ClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz 4-A&m=5Pqqanfy7OhvaKuNcrR1FQI_ MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c&s=EraaCvdV R4a70KAatAgN0z-Qv9VZ1wdz9_ YdImAugeU&e=
   /B000HMOKB6/ref=sr_1_1?s=book s&ie=UTF8&qid=1525970655&sr=1-
   1&keywords=great+books+of+the +western+world+53+william+jame s
   <https://urldefense.proofpoin t.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.a mazon.com_Great-2DBooks-2DWest ern-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=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4 uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r= HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz- jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=5Pqqanfy7Ohva KuNcrR1FQI_MPCK-jULqaKEBfFGK5c &s=EG1lG5c9xTExr2mp0DISYWeII9N PUrWJZvTM2Sa4BPg&e=>

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