In our last article, we explored William Kingdon Clifford's "The Ethics of Belief," in which he argued that "it is wrong, always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything on the basis of insufficient evidence." Thus Clifford is not just an evidentialist (i.e., someone who takes the position in epistemology, that all beliefs must be grounded on sufficient evidence), but Continue Reading …
Search Results for: william james
Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part Two)
Continuing on Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), completing "The Stream of Thought" and covering the chapter on "Habit." James thinks that psychologists focus too much on those parts of consciousness that get picked out by substantive words; we neglect those "fringe" parts that are harder to pick out specifically. Do elementary particles have "habits"? James describes Continue Reading …
Episode 179: William James’s Introspective Psychology (Part One)
On The Principles of Psychology (1890) chapters 1 & 7, and Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), the chapters on "The Stream of Thought," "Habit," and some of "The Self." Can we talk about the mind in a way that is both scientific and also does justice to our everyday experiences? James thought that previous philosophers talking about the mind weren't accurately reflecting Continue Reading …
Henri Bergson and William James on Vicious Intellectualism
"If I had not read Bergson," William James wrote in A Pluralistic Universe, "I should probably still be blackening endless pages of paper privately." James had been engaged in a very long philosophical debate with the leading Idealists of his day, F.H. Bradley and Josiah Royce, when Bergson came to the rescue. James thought that Bergson supplied him with the concepts he needed Continue Reading …
Intro is fashionably late for September: Psychology by William James
The weather is getting colder, the nights are getting shorter and it's back to NotSchool time for September. We're starting out fashionably late this month with Psychology: The Briefer Course by William James (get the text here), written in 1892 as an abridgment of his monumental Principles of Psychology. (And all this was well before he became the name brand of pragmatism, as Continue Reading …