William James (January 11, 1842, New York - August 26, 1910, Chokorua, Carroll County) was an American philosopher and psychologist, one of the founders and leading exponents of pragmatism and functionalism.
He studied medicine, in 1869 he received a doctorate, but for health reasons he abandoned the career of a practicing doctor. From 1872 - assistant, from 1885 - professor of philosophy, and in 1889-1907 - professor of psychology at Harvard University, where in 1892 he organized the first laboratory of applied psychology in the United States (together with Munsterberg). From 1878 to 1890 James writes his "Principles of Psychology", in which he rejects the atomism of German psychology and puts forward the task of studying concrete facts and states of consciousness, and not data that are "in" consciousness. James considered consciousness as an individual stream in which the same sensations or thoughts never appear twice. James considered selectivity to be one of the important characteristics of consciousness. For James, consciousness is a function that "in all probability, like other biological functions, evolved because it is useful." Proceeding from such an adaptive nature of consciousness, he assigned an important role to instincts and emotions, as well as individual physiological characteristics of a person.
The theory of emotions put forward in 1884 by James was widely adopted. The theory of personality, developed by him in one of the chapters of "Psychology", had a significant impact on the formation of personology in the United States. Along with Stanley Hall, James is the only psychologist to have been president of the American Psychological Association twice, in 1894 and 1904.
Books (6)
Conversations with teachers about psychology
Before you are recordings of very intelligent, ironically subtle, very personal conversations that the remarkable philosopher and teacher William James had with American educators about a hundred years ago.
His conversations are tuned to people of a certain profession, a certain worldview. This is a kind of attempt to rethink scientific facts, which makes them useful and significant in the practice of teaching and raising a child.
The book will be of interest to teachers, psychologists, specialists in the field of education, as well as anyone interested in this range of issues.
Will to Faith
The book includes two famous works of the outstanding American philosopher and psychologist W. James (James) (1842-1910) - "The Will to Believe" and "Pragmatism", which have long become a bibliographic rarity for our readers, as well as a number of his works, first translated into Russian language.
Diverse in subject matter, they demonstrate all the virtues of W. James's philosophical work: clarity of thought, comprehensive erudition, lively temperament and literary talent, and most importantly, the desire to approach the study of philosophical problems taking into account the tasks of people's real life.
Diversity of Religious Experience
The work of the famous American philosopher and psychologist W. James is an attempt to comprehend the phenomenon of religion not as an institution or social phenomenon, but as a directly cognizable personal experience.
In this aspect, the author considers religion as one of the intrusions of the subconscious into our everyday life, coming to the recognition of higher powers, from which religious people expect salvation and find it. Modern consciousness, regardless of whether it rejects or accepts religious ideas, cannot ignore the most interesting historical, psychological, literary material presented in the study.
Scientific foundations of psychology
The book "Scientific Foundations of Psychology" is devoted to the analysis of human mental activity, considered by the author as a "stream of consciousness", in which volitional and emotional principles play a dominant role.
In his work, James rejects the atomism of German psychology and puts forward the task of studying concrete facts and states of consciousness, and not data that are in consciousness. James considered consciousness as an individual stream in which the same sensations or thoughts never appear twice. James considered selectivity to be one of the important characteristics of consciousness.
For James, consciousness is a function that "in all probability, like other biological functions, evolved because it is useful." Proceeding from such an adaptive nature of consciousness, he assigned an important role to instincts and emotions, as well as individual physiological characteristics of a person.
Pragmatism
A new name for some old methods of thinking. Popular Lectures on Philosophy.
Translation from English by P. Yushkevich
“The lectures collected in this book were given at Lovell University in Boston (November and December 1906) and at Columbia University in New York (January 1907).
I am releasing them to the public in the same form in which they were read, without any additions or notes. The so-called pragmatic movement - I don't like the name, but it's obviously too late to change it - came out of nowhere, as if it had fallen from the sky. Some trends that have always existed in philosophy suddenly became aware of themselves and their common task. This has happened in many countries, and from so many different points of view, that the result has been numerous disagreements in the exposition of the doctrine.
I have made an attempt to paint in broad, general terms a picture of the movement as it appears to me, without going into trifles and details. I think that many useless disputes could be avoided if our critics would agree to wait until we finally reveal the essence of the doctrine we proclaim.” William James
Psychology
Among the founders of psychological science, an important role belongs to the American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910).
This publication is based on the book "Psychology", published in 1922. Many of the ideas developed by James not only form part of the history of psychology, but sometimes help to understand its present, to explore more deeply, for example, the nature of personality, its self-consciousness.
To the centenary of the "Principles of Psychology" W.James
James W.
D40 Psychology / Ed. L. A. Petrovskoy. -M.: Pedagogy, 1991.-368s. (Classics of world psychology). ISBN 5-7155-0402-3
Among the founders of psychological science, a prominent role belongs to the American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910). This publication is based on the book "Psychology", published in 1922. Many of the ideas developed by James not only form part of the history of psychology, but sometimes help to understand its present, to explore more deeply, for example, the nature of personality, its self-consciousness.
For psychologists and readers interested in the problems of psychology.
ISBN 5-7155-0402-3
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Introduction
William Jeme (1842-1910) is a prominent figure in the history of American and world psychology. He is the first professor of psychology at Harvard University, the creator of the first American psychological laboratory (1875), he wrote the famous "Principles of Psychology" in two volumes (1890). The edition offered to the reader reproduces an abridged version of this work, which was prepared by James himself as a textbook on psychology in 1892. *
In 1990, 100 years have passed since the release of James's fundamental book. However, we can say with confidence that today it is of more than historical interest for us. What is remarkable about this work? To answer this question, let us turn, in particular, to the judgments of psychologists contemporaries of James.
“... First of all, James influenced modern psychology with his extraordinary skill in describing individual groups of psychic facts, in all their vitality and immediacy, in addition to any theories and artificial constructions ... eyes, and we, so to speak, met face to face with this immediate mental life "- this is how N. N. Lange characterizes the influence of James's book (Psychic World. M., 1914. S. 52-53)." Expositions of spiritual movement in psychological textbooks were too academic, too conventional, and James offered us raw material, led us to the source of real experience ”- such is the judgment of E. Titchener (quoted from: Vygotsky L.S. 1 This book is based, with some limitations and editorial clarifications, on the text of the 1922 edition translated into Russian.
Sobr. op.; At 6t. T. 6.M., 1984.S. 96), echoing the above opinion.
Among the founders of the science of psychology, James really has a special place. He is not the founder of a psychological school or system. In fact, he outlined a whole series of lines of productive development of a new, emerging region directed towards the future. “Without going into details, James outlined a clearly outlined broad plan showing others in which directions to move and how to take the first steps,” writes the author of one of the famous books on the history of psychology about the contribution of James. (Thomson R. ThePelicanHistoryofPsychology. L„ 1968.P. 127).
Assessing the state of contemporary psychology, James believed that scientific psychology did not yet exist. This area is waiting for his Galileo, who will transform it into science. James himself saw his task as, following mainly the analytical method of direct self-observation, to study "primary data" - mental phenomena in their integrity and connection with the physiological processes that determine them.
The method of self-observation is addressed by the author both to naturally developing personal experience and to specially organized situations (as, for example, in the case of “laughing gas”). Largely due to this, the book is saturated with rich data from “his brilliant self-observation” (words by L. S. Vygotsky ), direct, "living" psychological material, in a certain sense, "recognizable" by the reader and close to him. In Russian psychology, after a certain period of oblivion, interest in the possibilities of the method of self-observation is now being revived, and in this respect James's book is a classic textbook.
For the psychology of James, a kind of encyclopedism is characteristic: in his field of vision is a wide range of phenomena of the human psyche - from the functioning of the brain to mediumship and religious ecstasy. Moreover, at all levels, the approach is distinguished by the harmony of scientific depth, clarity of common sense, and philosophical breadth. Perhaps this is also the reason for the effect of reading James's books with constant interest and pleasure, noted by many readers (not only psychologists).
Along with the already mentioned "Principles of Psychology" (in two volumes and abridged versions), James's psychological works include "Conversations with Teachers on Psychology" (1899) and "On the Varieties of Religious Experience" (1902). In James's books both those who make up an experimental laboratory model of psychology and those who gravitate toward the humanitarian psychological tradition will find interesting materials for themselves. In this respect, his panoramic approach seemed to be open to the future.
In the rich variety of ideas and data of the proposed book by James, there are those that have become part of the classical fund of world psychology, there are also those that have undergone changes by now, and there are simply outdated ones. The latter include, for example, many of the natural-science ideas that James uses, including those from the field of physiology of higher nervous activity. (By the way, this is why chapters III through IX have been omitted from the reprint.)
Modern psychology understands the nature of instinct, will, in many ways in a different way (but not uniformly!) in comparison with James. This list is easy to continue. However, in most cases in James's psychology, in a single complex of ideas, the invariant, the changeable, and the obsolete are combined at the same time. It's all-
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ml characteristic of the history of science, and this, in particular, can be seen in the example of James's theory of emotions, his ideas about personality, consciousness, etc. This author has a lot of interesting and useful things in their description, understanding of functions, for example, in teaching and education.
In general, James's position is distinguished by psychological and pedagogical optimism, belief in the great possibilities of education and self-education. In his psychological works, the thesis sounds like a refrain: “Our fate is in our own hands... The hell that awaits us from the afterlife, which theologians tell us about,” writes Jeme, “is no worse than the hell that we ourselves create for ourselves.” in this world, cultivating one's character in a false direction” (Conversations with teachers about psychology. Pg., 1919, p. 49-50).
In defining the nature of James's theoretical orientation, his approach is usually correlated with functionalism in American psychology. In the analysis of this direction, his emphasis on practicality, the cult of action and personal achievement of success, the desire to look for effective ways to adapt a person to a changing environment are noted (see: Yaroshevsky M.G. History of Psychology. M., 1976). These trends are associated, on the one hand, with the peculiarities of the practice of American social life, and on the other hand, with the influence of the emerging 4 "philosophical tradition of pragmatism. Dzhemed gives an original interpretation of consciousness. He writes about flow consciousness, thought or subjective life, emphasizing the dynamism, the procedural nature of mental phenomena, considering them as constantly replacing each other unique states. What on the surface appears to be repetition is actually a changing series of unique thoughts. If the psychology of the structuralists represented consciousness as a sum of individual elements, a kind of spiritual discrete atoms, then for James the “primary fact” is the stream of consciousness as a continuous dynamic integrity. Dividing it is the same as "cutting water with scissors."
Another important characteristic of consciousness is its selectivity: it always selects some states and rejects others. Dzheme refers to the main, in his opinion, determining the process-mchoice-attention and habit; he devotes much space to the process of categorizing information coming from the outside world. These sections of the book are just characterized by a combination of tendencies, as it were, directed towards the future, and at the same time, information and ideas that are outdated by the present. James's ideas about the nature of consciousness, memory, and attention can partly be found, for example, in the arsenal of modern cognitive psychology, which has addressed these problems in a consonant aspect at a new experimental level.
In the chapter devoted to personality, Dzhemey acts as a supporter of its broad definition: not only through its structures and connections between structural elements. In this regard, the traditions of our domestic psychology in their approach to personality are consonant with the views of James. Here is what S. L. Rubinshtein writes about this, for example: “...U. Jeme noted that a person's personality is the total sum of all that he can call his own. In other words: man there is what he It has... In a certain sense, and we can, of course, say that it is difficult to draw a line between what a person calls himself, and something from what he considers his own. What a person considers his own, to a large extent determines what he himself is. But only this proposition acquires for us a different and in some respects the opposite meaning. A person considers his own not so much the things that he appropriated to himself, but rather the business to which he gave himself, the social whole in which he included himself ”(Fundamentals of General Psychology. T. II.M., 1989. P. 243).
The provisions developed by James about the personality as a whole had a great influence on the formation of many areas of further personological research, for example, self-awareness, self-esteem, the level of claims, etc.
One of the brightest and widely known pages of James's psychology is his theory of emotions. This theory was developed at the same time independently by two researchers - W. James in 1884. and N.N. Langev 1885 - and entered the history of psychology under the name of the James-Lange theory. Here is her brief classic formulation given by James: “... We are saddened because we cry; enraged because we beat another; we are afraid because we tremble…”
L. S. Vygotsky in his historical and psychological study “The Teaching about Emotions” emphasizes the paradoxical nature of this theory compared to the classical one. The paradox is that “it put forward as the cause of emotions what was previously considered its consequence” ( 6, p. 103). Organic changes in it are considered as the direct cause, source and very essence of the emotional process. By the way, this thesis is associated with a detailed version of the name of the theory - “organic theory of emotions”.
We will dwell briefly on the main points of Vygotsky's detailed analysis of the James-Lange theory, since, in essence, they are very revealing and modern, although they date back to the early 1930s. our century. Having made minor corrections related to the time separating us from the emergence of this theory, today we can repeat Vygotsky’s words about it: the theory, created more than a century ago, has survived to this day, “despite the destructive criticism that it was subjected to from different sides. (ibid., p. 95). The discussion generated by it continues to the present, and the theory itself has become “the model, many modern researchers note, which the authors followed in the development of alternative ideas” (VilyunasVC. Psychology of emotional phenomena. M., 1976. P. eleven).
Dwelling on the question of what provided the James-Lange theory with a long “exclusive dominance”, Vygotsky notes two circumstances. The first is related to the nature of her presentation, which reflects the general manner of presentation of the “spiritual movement” by James. This theory is perhaps the only one that satisfactorily resolves the question of the nature of emotions with such apparent simplicity, with such persuasiveness, with such an abundance of everyday evidence, accessible to everyone, that the illusion of its truth is involuntarily created. and irrefutability. The second circumstance, according to Vygotsky, is as follows: “... When explaining emotions, this theory highlights their organic basis and therefore impresses as a strictly physiological, objective and even the only materialistic concept of emotions and feelings. Here comes the surprise again
I am an illusion that continues to exist with amazing persistence, despite the fact that Jeme himself took care to explain his theory from the very beginning as a theory not necessarily connected with materialism” (Vol. 6.C, 96).
From Vygotsky’s point of view, the vulnerability of the theory under consideration is primarily due to the fact that it was formulated “based on everyday observation, introspective analysis, and purely speculative constructions” (ibid., p. 102). theory "from the point of view of its"4 "actual consistency" found that it "does not withstand the criticism of facts at the first attempt of its experimental study" (ibid., p. 113). Vygotsky also draws attention to the fact that the main goal of this theory - "overcoming intellectualism in the doctrine of affects, finding that specific feature that distinguishes the emotional state from purely cognitive, intellectual states of consciousness" (ibid., pp. 154-155).
Many researchers of James usually note the inconsistency of his theoretical ideas. And rightly so; Moreover, James himself believed that the state of psychology of his time did not favor complete certainty and unambiguity. For example, Vygotsky notes “James’s vacillation in the final presentation of his own theory”, considering this as evidence of “the internal limitation and inconsistency of the classical formulation of his hypothesis...” (ibid., p. 154). However, defining an important facet of meaning approach of James and Lange, Vygotsky wrote: “Their hypothesis already historically justified itself in one volume, which gave rise to a number of studies and thereby pushed scientific thought to the discovery of hitherto unknown phenomena of reality, which themselves had already predetermined the direction for the movement of theoretical thought” (ibid. p. 132).
We are not in a position to dwell here on the modern achievements of the actively developing field of the psychological study of emotions. We only emphasize that the task formulated by Vygotsky more than half a century ago remains relevant: “We are faced with the need to create a new theory for new facts, to oppose it to the old theory and to include in it everything that is true and has survived the fact.
scientific verification, which consisted in the hypothesis of James and Lange” (ibid.).
Analyzing the current state of this area, one can join the above statement. We only note that the considered theory of emotions receives a kind of “reinforcement” in the field of the wide modern practice of psycho-correctional work. We have in mind the tendency to correct disturbed mental states through work, in particular with their specific external, including organic, manifestations. We can also mention the corresponding effects from the field of modern psychopharmacology.
In his Preface of the Translator to James's "Psychology" in Russian, I. I. Lapshin notes that the James psychologists, James the philosopher, represent two almost completely independent personalities. Perhaps this is a fair observation. Although Dzhemene avoids addressing philosophical problems in his psychological works, philosophical work is another years and other pages of his life. In the history of philosophy, Gemene is a lesser known and significant figure than in the history of psychology. He is one of the founders of the philosophical system of pragmatism. Actually, the philosophical period of his activity follows the psychological one and is associated with the release of such well-known philosophical works as “Philosophical Concepts and Practical Results” (1898), “Pragmatism” (1907), “The Meaning of Truth” (1909), etc. There is no doubt the mutual influence of these two periods of James's life and work. On the one hand, in his psychology one can find traces of the formation of a future philosophical system of views, and on the other hand, in philosophy, perhaps, the very appeal to the theory of knowledge, the problems of truth, the subjectivist tilt in their comprehension, is indicative.
Jemene repeatedly in his "Psychology" dissociates himself from the philosophy of materialism and directly writes:
"My point of view cannot be called materialistic." Nevertheless, it cannot be said that the author completely breaks with materialism. At least, as already noted, it proceeds from the recognition of the existence of the material world independent of consciousness. The soul, on the other hand, appears to him as a substance, in a certain sense, isolated from the material universe.
[Acts of metaphysics, as he would like: “But as psychologists we have no need to delve into metaphysics. Psychology deals only with gems or other states of consciousness. To prove the existence of the soul is a matter of metaphysics or theology, but for psychology such a hypothesis of substantial unity is superfluous.” In many specific questions, James's position really turns out to be non-materialistic. Indicative in this respect, for example, is the chapter devoted to the will. As L. S. Vygotsky notes, Dzhemene “had to make, though the most insignificant, as befits a pragmatist, a loan of spiritual energy from the divine fiat - let it be, by which the world was created and without whose help Dzhemene saw the possibility of scientifically explaining the volitional act "(vol. 3.S. 66).
Of great interest is the experience of James in transmitting psychological knowledge to the teacher, described in his book Conversations with Teachers on Psychology, which can be regarded as one of the first manuals on practical psychology. Information about the “building of our spirit” is what, according to James, psychology can give the teacher in the first place. “My main desire was to make the teachers understand the student’s spiritual life as some active unity, as he himself feels it, and, if possible, sympathetically reproduce it in the imagination,” this is how James defines his task, speech It is not only about the development of the student's objective vision, that is, about the vision, as it were, from the outside, from the outside, but also about the need for the teacher to have a competent view from the inside - from the position of the student himself.
Summing up what has been said, I would like to rejoice together with the reader on the gift that we receive thanks to the reprint of this book, timed to coincide with the centennial anniversary of its first publication.
L. A. Petrovskaya, Doctor of Psychologyandcal sciences
This book is an abbreviation of my great work The Foundations of Psychology. Preparing it for publication, I had in mind to give a psychology textbook suitable for classroom use. To do this, I released entire chapters from my great work, and wrote others anew. I have omitted the historical and polemical parts, metaphysical discourses, passages of a purely philosophical nature, most of the quotations and references to other books, and all irrelevant details, leaving the psychology teacher to use this material himself as needed. Knowing how little the majority of young students are familiar with physiology, I considered it necessary to devote several chapters to the description of the sense organs and the brain. "I believe that the reductions made in the critical part of the work and the more simplified and dogmatic way of presentation contributed to greater clarity in the development of my - common point of view on psychology as a natural science. 2 /5 books are newly written or thoroughly revised; the rest is compiled from my great work. I regret that it was not possible to add the chapters "On Pleasure and Pain", "On the Aesthetic Sense" and "On the Moral Sense". Perhaps I will be able to fill this gap in the next edition, should the need ever arise.
I use this preface to make a few remarks about the exposition of The Foundations of Psychology. The vast majority of the critics treated me so condescendingly that I can only thank them heartily. But they all agreed on one common reproach: in their opinion, my exposition is disorderly, the sequence of chapters is too artificial. “This shortcoming is excusable,” they added.
"In this edition, these chapters (III-IX) are omitted.- Note. ed.
they, since this work consists for the most part of a collection of journal articles; therefore, it cannot be as systematic as one can demand from an integral, specially written work.” In my opinion, the reproach is unfair; the justification given above is also unfounded. The order of presentation is, no doubt, somewhat disordered, and it is not without reason that this shortcoming caught the eye of most critics. But to say that there is no general plan in the book, it seems to me, is impossible; I deliberately kept to the order most convenient in pedagogical terms; I began with concrete states of mind, directly known to every person, and moved on to the so-called elements, with which we become acquainted later by abstraction. The reverse order of presentation, in which complex states of consciousness are gradually constructed from elementary mental units, makes it possible to give the presentation a more elegant form and divide the entire book into clearly demarcated parts. But these “advantages of presentation are often acquired by distorting the actual facts. I am ready to admit that my synthetic order of presentation was established by me, so to speak, by feel. But I did so for reasons that forced me to admit such a course of action In general, contrary to my critics, I am inclined to think that the reproach of the “non-systematic” exposition in this case is not a reproach in essence, because we get a living understanding of mental phenomena by keeping our attention as long as possible on specific states of consciousness. in their entirety, while the analysis of mental elements is, so to speak, an analysis postmortem (postmortem). In the latter case, we are dealing not with life phenomena, but with artificial abstractions ".
I have given so much space in this book to the detailed description of the sensation that, following the established custom, I place these chapters at the beginning of the book, although I am not at all convinced that this order of presentation is the best. Now that it is too late to change the order of the chapters, I feel that the chapters "Sensation of Motion", "Instinct", and "Emotion" should, for the sake of teaching, immediately follow the chapter "Habit"; the chapter “Thinking” should be placed much earlier, perhaps immediately after the chapter “Personality”. I advise teachers of psychology to stick to just this order, despite the fact that the chapter "Thinking", if rearranged to a new place, will require easy processing.
Leaving aside the question of whether my critics are right in the first reproach or not, I must say that they are wrong in their view of the relation of my journal articles to the proposed book. With one exception, all the chapters of my Foundations of Psychology were originally written especially for the book; only later, without foreseeing the completion of the work, did I publish some of these chapters in journals. Without a doubt, I failed to manage my material properly, but it would be unfair to reproach me for not putting all possible efforts into the most conscientious performance of my work in compiling the Foundations of Psychology,
ChapterL Introduction
Definition of psandchology best of all gave Ladda - as a science that deals with the description and interpretation., ... so.:., the standing of consciousness. Substates of consciousness here "understand such phenomena as sensations, desires, emotions, cognitive processes, judgments," decisions, desires, etc. The interpretation of these phenomena should, of course, include the study of both those causes and conditions - the conditions under which they arise, and the actions directly caused by them, since both can be ascertained.
In the proposed essay, psychology should be presented as a natural science. This remark requires clarification. Most thinkers believe that, in essence, there is only one science about all objects of knowledge, and that until everything is known, nothing can be known completely. If such a science ever arose, it would be philosophy. In fact, such a science will not arise very soon; instead, we have in various fields a mass of rudiments of knowledge, separated from each other for the sake of practical convenience until such time as, with further growth of knowledge, they merge into a single code of truth. These temporary beginnings of knowledge we call "sciences" in the plural. To save time in their work, each of these sciences confines itself to arbitrarily chosen problems of knowledge, ignoring all the rest.
In this way every science takes on trust the known data, leaving other departments of philosophy to criticize their truth and significance. Thus, all natural sciences believe in the existence of the world of matter absolutely independent of the cognizing mind, despite the fact that a deeper philosophical analysis of this issue leads to idealism. Mechanics ascribes to matter the possession of mass, the manifestation of force, defining these concepts in a purely phenomenal way.
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and without being embarrassed by those irrationalities that can be revealed in these concepts during further analysis. In a similar way, motion is taken in mechanics as something absolutely independent of the cognizing object, despite the difficulties that< кое утверждение. Подобным же некритическим путем в физике допускается существование атомов, действия на расстоянии и т.д.;химия берет на веру все данные фи- зики, а физиология -все данные химии. Психология, как естественная наука, рассматривает явления с такой же одностороннейивременно-условной точки зрения. Сверх реальности материального мира со всеми его свойствами, реальности, принимаемой на веру другими естественными науками, психология постулирует допол- нительные, по преимуществу ей принадлежащие данные, предоставляя другим, более разработанным, отделам философии констатировать их реальность и оценивать их конечное значение. Эти данные следующие: 1)мыс- ли и чувства, и решительно всё, что может служить на< званием для изменчивых состояний сознания; 2)позна- ние других явлений при посредстве этих состояний»со- знания. К таким явлениям относят материальные объ- екты и события и другие состояния познающего духа, Материальные объекты могут быть близки или далеки по пространству и времени, состояния духа могут при- надлежать не одному только психологу-исследователю, но и другим лицам или самому исследователю, нов различное время.
How one thing can know another is the problem of the so-called theory of knowledge. How such a thing as a state of mind can exist at all is the subject of rational (so named in contrast to empirical) psychology. The full truth about states of consciousness will only be known when both theory of knowledge and rational psychology have their last word. In the meantime, a mass of conditional truths can be collected about them, which will inevitably become part of a larger truth when the time comes for this.
This temporary set of statements about states of consciousness and about the cognition that these states of consciousness use is what I mean by psychology as a natural science. Whatever the final conclusions of the theory about the properties of spirit, matter and cognition, we will accept the understanding of psychology of its facts and
laws will retain all their meaning. If critical minds find such a natural-historical point of view as arbitrarily narrowing the view of things, then they should not reproach a book that considers phenomena from this point of view: rather, they should supplement one-sided views with a deeper analysis of thought. Incomplete reports are often practically necessary. In order to rise above the level of ordinary scientific premises in this case, it would be necessary to give not one volume, but a whole shelf of volumes, which greatly exceeds the strength of the author.
Let us add to this that the subject of this book will be only the human intellect. In spite of the fact that the mental life of the lower animals has been studied, not without success, in recent times, due to lack of space we will not analyze it here and will only occasionally refer to its manifestations, precisely in those cases when it will shed light. for our study.
Psychic phenomena cannot be studied independently of the physical conditions of cognition.inof the world. The great error of the ancient rational psychology was that the soul was presented as an absolutely spiritual being, endowed with certain spiritual faculties belonging exclusively to it, by means of which the various processes of remembering, judging, imagining, wanting, etc., were explained, almost without any attitude to the world in which these abilities manifest their activity. But modern science, which is more knowledgeable in this matter, considers our internal abilities as if adjusted in advance to the properties of the world in which we live; I mean, so adapted to keep us safe and happy in the environment. Our abilities for the formation of new habits for memorizing successive series of phenomena, for abstracting the general properties of things, for associating with each phenomenon its usual consequences, seem to us just the guiding principle in this world, both constant and changeable at that time. same time; likewise, our emotions and instincts are also adapted to the properties of this particular world. For the most part, if a known phenomenon is important to our well-being, it is s. the first time it excites a keen interest in us. Dangerous phenomena cause in nasinstink-
fear, poisonous things, disgust, and basic needs attract us to themselves. In short, the world and the mind developed simultaneously and the poet:
in some respects, as it were, adapted to each other " " friend. Various types of interaction between the world order and the regularity of mental phenomena, due to which this currently existing harmony of relations could occur over time, served as the subject of many studies, from the point of view of the theory of evolution, which, although they have not yet led to any final results, however, have enriched this issue with new ideas and light;
whether a number of new problems. ?
The main result of this new view was the ever-increasing conviction that once inandmental life is a phenomenon primarily of a teleological nature, that is to say, that our various sense-modes of thought have reached their present state by virtue of their usefulness in regulating our influences on the external world.
After all, few formulas in modern psychology have done more service than Spencer's proposition that the essence of mental and bodily life lies in the same thing, namely, "the adaptation of internal relations to external ones." The lower animal-children adapt themselves to the objects of experience that are directly in front of them. With a higher degree of mental development, adaptation extends to objects more distant in space and time and is accompanied by more and more complex and precise processes of thought.
The primary and fundamental manifestations of psychic life are actions tending toward self-preservation. In the background, many other random phenomena play a role in the life of the soul, which, if poorly adapted, can lead their owner to death. Psychology in the broadest sense of the word must study all manifestations of mental activity - useless and harmful, along with those favorable to adaptation. But the study of harmful phenomena of mental life, which is the subject of psychiatry - the science of mental illness, and the study of indifferent (for adaptation) phenomena of mental life, which is the content of aesthetics, are not reflected in the proposed book,
All mental phenomena (regardless of their usefulness) are accompanied by bodily processes. They are
lead to subtle changes in respiration, blood circulation, general muscle contractility, in the activity of glands and blood vessels, even in those cases when they do not cause any noticeable movements in the muscles that control voluntary movements. Not only certain mental states, such as, for example, disturbances, but all mental phenomena in general, even purely thought processes and feelings, are movers in terms of the results they evoke. In the following presentation, we will clarify this in more detail. For now, let us take this proposition as one of the fundamental facts of the science into which we are entering.
Above, we said that one should study conditions that determine states of consciousness. Known processes in the cerebral hemispheres serve as such an immediate condition. This proposition is supported by so many pathological facts and guides physiologists to the very basis of the vast majority of their judgments to such an extent that for a person familiar with physiology it is almost an axiom. However, it would be difficult to give a concise and irrefutable proof of the unconditional dependence of mental processes on changes occurring in the nervous substance. That a certain degree of constant general dependence of psychic phenomena on bodily phenomena exists cannot be denied. It is enough to pay attention to that. how quickly consciousness can be destroyed (as far as we can tell) by a blow to the head, by profuse bleeding, by an epileptic seizure, by the ingestion of a large dose of alcohol, opium, ether, or nitrous oxide (NgO); - qualitatively change the state of consciousness by taking a smaller dose of one of these substances or by inducing a fever in order to see to what extent our luu depends on random conditions of the body. A small delay in the bile duct, a laxative, a cup of strong coffee at a certain moment is enough to temporarily completely change a person's outlook on life.
Our states of mind and our decisions depend more on our circulation than on logical foundations. Whether a person in a known case will be a coward or a hero depends on the temporary state of his
nerves. In many cases of insanity (though by no means all) noticeable changes in the brain tissue were found. Destruction of the corresponding sections of the cerebral hemispheres causes loss of memory and motor ability of quite definite orders. Taking into account the above-mentioned charts as a whole, we are involuntarily ready to admit a simple and radical proposition: all mental processes are undoubtedly a function of brain activity, changing in parallel with the latter and relating to it as an effect to a cause.
This consideration serves working (regulatory)1ipabouttezoi suneand physiological psychology of the lastandX years and will play the role of the same hypothesis in the present essay. Taken in such an absolute form, it perhaps asserts too much, concluding for itself only a part of the truth. But the only way to be sure of its failure lies in its serious application to every case that comes across. The development of a hypothesis in all its breadth is in many cases the only means of proving its failure. However, I am ready to assert without the slightest hesitation from the very beginning that uniformity in the correlation of mental and cerebral processes constitutes a law of nature. A detailed interpretation of this law will best show where it is difficult and where it is easy to detect its manifestations,
To some readers, the proposed hypothesis will seem like the most unfounded preconceived materialism. In a sense, this is, of course, materialism:
our hypothesis subordinates the higher to the arbitrariness of the lower. But although we affirm that the realization of thought is the result of mechanical laws (because, according to another guiding hypothesis, namely the physiological one, the laws of brain activity are essentially mechanical laws), we do not explain the nature of thought in the least, establishing a relationship between the physical and the mental. Skim, and in the last sense our assumption is not materialism. Those writers who unequivocally insist on the dependence of our thoughts on our brains as an indisputable fact are often the most insistent proponents of the opinion that the fact is inexplicable and that the essential essence of consciousness can never be rationally inferred from any material causes.
Undoubtedly, several generations of psychologists need to work to establish with appropriate accuracy the hypothesis of the dependence of mental phenomena on bodily ones. Until then, the books postulating it will rely to some extent on the problematic principle. But the student of psychology must remember that such risky practices are constantly practiced in the sciences, and they usually progress in a zigzag from one absolute formula to another, which corrects the first by an excessive deviation in the opposite direction. At present, psychology is moving in a materialistic direction, and in the interests of its ultimate success it must be allowed complete freedom to move in that direction, even by those who are sure that it will never reach its final goal without turning back. There is only one thing that cannot be doubted: namely, that, having merged with philosophy as a whole, psychological formulas will acquire a completely different meaning compared to what they had for so long, studied from the point of view of an abstract and incomplete natural science. however necessary and inevitable the study of psychic phenomena from such a temporally conventional point of view may be.
Subdivisions of psychology. So, we have to study as far as possible the conditions in their relation to the probable nervous conditions. At present, it has been finally clarified that the nervous system is nothing but a machine that perceives external influences and expediently reacts to them in order to preserve the individual and its kind. This requires no explanation for the reader who is familiar with physiology, even if only superficially.
Anatomically, the nervous system is divided into three main sections: 1) nerves that bring currents, centripetal; 2) bodies of the central distribution of currents; 3) nerves that carry currents, centrifugal.
As far as functions are concerned, we have sensation, central action and movement. Psychologically, we can appropriately subdivide the scope of our analysis according to a similar scheme and consider the three basic conscious processes and their conditions in sequence. The first class is made up of sensations; the second is cerebration, or mental processes;
the third is the desire for action. Some ambiguity inevitably arises in such a division, but for a book such as ours, this division is practically convenient, and therefore we will adhere to it, despite the objections that can be raised against it.
To the centenary of the "Principles of Psychology" by W. James
Jeme W.
D40 Psychology / Ed. L. A. Petrovskoy. - M.: Pedagogy, 1991.-368 p. (Classics of world psychology). ISBN 5-7155-0402-3
Among the founders of psychological science, an important role belongs to the American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910). This publication is based on the book "Psychology", published in 1922. Many of the ideas developed by James not only form part of the history of psychology, but sometimes help to understand its present, to explore more deeply, for example, the nature of personality, its self-consciousness.
For psychologists and readers interested in the problems of psychology.
ISBN 5-7155-0402-3
BBC 88
Scientific publication
Jame William PSYCHOLOGY
Head editorial G. S. Prokopenko Editor S.D. Krakow
Artistic editor E. V. Gavrilin
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Handed over to the set 12/18/90. Signed for publication on May 27, 1991. Format 84X108 "/z2, Journal paper. High print. Literary typeface. Conventional print sheet 19.32. .19.9 Circulation 50,000 copies Order 833 Price 3 rubles
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© Compilation, introductory article, design. Publishing house "Pedagogy", 1991
Introduction
William Jeme (1842-1910) is a prominent figure in the history of American and world psychology. He is the first professor of psychology at Harvard University, the creator of the first American psychological laboratory (1875), he wrote the famous "Principles of Psychology" in two volumes (1890). The edition offered to the reader reproduces an abridged version of this work, which was prepared by James himself as a textbook on psychology in 1892. *
In 1990, 100 years have passed since the publication of James's fundamental book. However, we can say with confidence that today it is of more than historical interest for us. What is remarkable about this work? To answer this question, let us turn, in particular, to the judgments of psychologists contemporaries of James.
“... James first of all influenced modern psychology with his extraordinary skill in describing individual groups of psychic facts, in all their vitality and immediacy, in addition to any theories and artificial constructions ... a bandage from the eyes, and we, so to speak, met face to face with this immediate mental life ”- this is how N. N. Lange characterizes the influence of James’s book (Psychic World. M., 1914, pp. 52-53). “The presentations of mental movement in psychological textbooks were too academic, too conditional, and James offered us raw material, led us to the source of real experience” - such is the opinion of E. Titchener (quoted from: Vygotsky L.S. 1 This book is based, with some limitations and editorial clarifications, on the text of the 1922 edition translated into Russian.
Sobr. op.; In 6 vols. T. 6. M., 1984. S. 96), echoing the above opinion.
Among the founders of the science of psychology, James really holds a special place. He is not the founder of a psychological school or system. In fact, he outlined a whole series of lines of productive development of a new, emerging region directed towards the future. “Without going into details, James outlined a clearly outlined broad plan showing others in which directions to move and how to take the first steps,” writes the author of one of the famous books on the history of psychology about the contribution of James (Thomson R. The Pelican History of Psychology. L „1968.P. 127).
Assessing the state of contemporary psychology, James believed that scientific psychology did not yet exist. This area is waiting for its Galileo, who will transform it into science. James himself saw his task as, following the basically analytical method of direct self-observation, to study "primary data" - mental phenomena in their integrity and connection with the physiological processes that determine them.
The method of self-observation is addressed by the author both to naturally developing personal experience and to specially organized situations (as, for example, in the case of "laughing gas"). Largely due to this, the book is saturated with the rich data of “his brilliant self-observation” (L. S. Vygotsky’s words), direct, “living” psychological material, in a certain sense “recognizable” by the reader and close to him. In Russian psychology, after a certain period of oblivion, interest in the possibilities of the method of self-observation is now being revived, and in this respect James's book is a classic textbook.
For the psychology of James, a kind of encyclopedism is characteristic: in his field of vision is a wide range of phenomena of the human psyche - from the functioning of the brain to mediumship and religious ecstasy. Moreover, at all levels, the approach is distinguished by the harmony of scientific depth, clarity of common sense, and philosophical breadth. Perhaps this is also the reason for the effect of reading James's books with constant interest and pleasure, noted by many readers (not only psychologists).
Along with the already mentioned "Principles of Psychology" (in two volumes and abridged versions), James' psychological works include "Conversations with Teachers on Psychology" (1899) and "On the Varieties of Religious Experience" (1902). In James's books, both those who compile an experimental laboratory model of psychology and those who gravitate toward the humanitarian psychological tradition will find interesting materials for themselves. In this respect, his panoramic approach seemed to be open to the future.
In the rich variety of ideas and data of the proposed book by James, there are those that have become part of the classical fund of world psychology, there are also those that have undergone changes by now, and there are simply outdated ones. The latter include, for example, many of the natural-science ideas that James uses, including those from the field of physiology of higher nervous activity. (By the way, this is why chapters III through IX have been omitted from the reprint.)
Modern psychology understands the nature of instinct, will, in many ways in a different way (but not uniformly!) in comparison with James. This list is easy to continue. However, in most cases in James's psychology, in a single complex of ideas, the invariant, the changeable, and the obsolete are combined at the same time. This is all-
ml characteristic of the history of science, and this, in particular, can be seen in the example of James's theory of emotions, his ideas about personality, consciousness, etc. no less, we find a lot of interesting and useful things from this author - in their description, understanding of functions, for example, in training and education.
In general, James's position is distinguished by psychological and pedagogical optimism, belief in the great possibilities of education and self-education. In his psychological works, the thesis sounds like a refrain: “Our fate is in our own hands... The hell that awaits us from the afterlife, which theologians tell us about,” writes Jeme, “is no worse than the hell that we ourselves create for ourselves.” in this world, cultivating one’s character in the wrong direction” (Conversations with Teachers on Psychology, Pg., 1919, pp. 49-50).
In defining the nature of James's theoretical orientation, his approach is usually correlated with functionalism in American psychology. In the analysis of this direction, his emphasis on practicality, the cult of action and personal achievement of success, the desire to look for effective ways to adapt a person to a changing environment are noted (see: Yaroshevsky M. G. History of psychology. M., 1976). These tendencies are associated, on the one hand, with the peculiarities of the practice of American social life, and, on the other hand, with the influence of the emerging 4 "philosophical tradition of pragmatism. Jeme gives an original interpretation of consciousness. He writes about flow consciousness, thought or subjective life, emphasizing the dynamism, the procedural nature of mental phenomena, considering them as constantly replacing each other unique states. What on the surface appears to be repetition is actually a changing series of unique thoughts. If the psychology of the structuralists represented consciousness as a sum of individual elements, a kind of spiritual discrete atoms, then for James the “primary fact” is the stream of consciousness as a continuous dynamic integrity. Dividing it is the same as “cutting water with scissors”.