...To completely understand how William James got his start in Psychology, I think must first start with his father. William's father, Henry James Sr., was 1 of 13 children. His parents were Irish immigrants. Henry inherited wealth from his father before his own children were even born. When William was born, Henry and his wife Mary lived in New York City. There, Henry studied theology, philosophy, and mysticism. William James was born in New York City on January 11, 1842, to a deeply religious family. Henry often took the family for extended stays in Europe. He was a very devoted father. He wanted his children to have the sort of education so they might out-do others in knowledge. He enrolled them in fine schools, hired them gifted tutors, and made sure they went to museums, attended lectures, and the theater with regularity. William and two of his siblings would follow their father's educational efforts. His brother Henry became one of America's most famed novelists, and his sister Alice also acquired a literary reputation of her own after her diaries were published. Mary James complained of William that "The trouble with him is that he must express every fluctuation of feeling, and especially every unfavorable symptom, without reference to the effect upon those about him." It seems this introduction to the great philosopher and psychologist William James. It is also appropriate, his was life a reconsideration of spirituality and consciousness in relation to physiology and neuroscience...
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...William James was born on January 11th, 1842. He grew up in a well-educated environment. His father was deeply interested in philosophy and theology and made sure to provide his children with a rich education. James came from a family with a strict father, raised in tolerance. They were a wealthy and cultured family. James attended Harvard, studying a broad spectrum of just about everything. He finally received his medical degree in 1869, but then became depressed and anxious about like. He was not found of medicine and was then offered to teach a course in the relations between Psychology and Physiology. He was also the founder of Harvard’s first Psychology lab. James then began to teach psychology as well as writing the first U.S. test, Principles of Psychology, in 1890. James was well known for his Philosophy which he explored many areas. But many people might know about his collaboration with Carl Lange, and the Theory of Emotions. This theory suggest that emotions occur as a result of physiology reactions to events. James’s theory was proposed in 1884. Even though many people did not believe his theory he stood firm to it. This theory proposed the emotions happen as a result of an event, our body arouses, interprets, then the emotion occurs. William James describes it thus: "My theory ... is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion. Common sense says, we lose our fortune...
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...• God could not be known through sensory experience or logical argument • Ordinary language cannot do justice to religious experience, because it is an experience beyond normal sense-experience • Religious language is a ‘schema’ – an attempt to find clusters of words which approach the idea of expressing an inexpressible idea • God is ‘wholly other’ – completely different and distinct to humans • Humans are not able to know God unless he chooses to reveal himself • The numinous is where God reveals himself and his revelation is felt on an emotional level Objections • Confusing regarding the issue of whether knowledge of God is gained through experience • He says the theological ideas come after the experience • He implies that numinous experience is a ‘once and for all’ experience – implies there can be no further experience • To suggest that all religious experiences are numinous is limiting as other forms are so well documented Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) – inspired Otto He agreed that religious experiences are primarily emotional and that every person has a consciousness of the divine. These emotions are deeper than reason and it is ‘self-authenticating;’ not requiring testing to see if it is genuine. Doctrines such as the creed were attempts by individuals to understand their religious experience. He disagreed with this because the experiences should have priority and statements of belief should be formulated to fit them. He contended that the experiences...
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...psychologist and philosopher of the late nineteen centuries was William James. James was born in New York city on January 11, 1842, he was the first child of Henry James and Mary Walsh. During James’s childhood, he was educated through tutoring and private schools, including his siblings (Pomerleau). As he got older, his family move to Geneva, Paris where James was inspired to be an artist or a scientist as he went to school. While his family move back to the USA and settle in Rhode Island; James found interest in painting and science, he later began working with William Hunt in 1858. James didn’t think being an artist was in his best interest, so he decided to attend Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard in 1861. When James...
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...Megan Morrone Sigmund Freud and William James on Religion Intro to Philosophy Final May 3, 2013 The Will to Believe, an essay by William James, is a defense of religious faith in the absence of convincing logical facts or scientific evidence. James focuses on reasoning and choice in reference to the basis of belief. To James, when reasoning it is a necessity to recognize other considerations apart from those in which the evidence points to. If truth is the primary focus of our beliefs, sometimes it may necessary to take the risk of believing without solid evidence. Moreover, he clarifies that, although we sometimes have a choice in what we believe, there are many beliefs that we cannot will. James views faith in God as falling short of knowledge because we, as humans do not naturally experience the supernatural. However, he also explains that, such faith is sensibly meaningful to many people, and it is reasonable to wonder how, and to what extent it can be justified. James believes that both logic and science have limits beyond which we can legitimately seek rationality. James discusses genuine choice and stresses the three criteria for genuine choice; the choice must be live, forced, and momentous. In other words, personally meaningful, mutually exclusive and presented with an option and/or answer, and must involve potentially important consequences. James defines religion broadly, as having simply two elements, the first being that the best things are eternal, and second...
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...William James was one of the most influential psychologists. He is known for the first educator to offer a psychology class in the United States. William was born in New York city on January 11th, 1842. While he was growing up he had a passion for drawing. In 1860 his family and himself moved to Newport Rhode Island because William wanted to be a painter but gave up on that career because he claimed that it was an "insufficient rate of work". In 1861 he enlisted in the war for about 3 months. After the civil war Mr. James enrolled in Lawrence scientific school at Harvard University. There he studied chemistry and psysiology. He later entered in Harvards medical school in 1863. He attempted an expedition but had to return earlier than he wanted...
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...Ethan Glass William James Ethan Glass Professor Earley Introduction to Religion 1 May 2013 William James 1.) How does the theorist define religion? James often defines religion through supernatural experiences. He believes that religion has an active and significant role in these experiences. With that being said, James refuses to place a single definition of the term ‘religion.’ Due to the fact that there are so many different personal experiences, expectations, and beliefs associated with religion, James believes that it would be wrong to define religion in a typical “dictionary” way. Instead of defining religion, James breaks it into two parts, institutional and personal. The institutional branch refers to the Church and like institutions, the written code of the religion, and the idea of a ‘divine’. The personal focuses on the beliefs and experiences of a person. In this writing James ignores the institutional aspect because he does not want to discuss God. Before there was God and written religion, there had to be personal beliefs; therefore, James argues that the personal branch of religion is more important to study when focusing on the fundamentals and basics of religion. James states that religion can be anything, morally, physically, or ritually engaging, as long as it has emotional ties to a person, in the sector of institutional religion everything has a strict definition. James questions who can truly define the idea of ‘divine’ in a general manner. He...
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...The work, Narrative Of James Williams, an American Slave, Who Was for Several Years, a Driver on a Cotton Plantation in Alabama, published by the American Anti-Slavery Society. This publication was about a slave name, James Williams. Originating from Powhatan County, Virginia, and born on May 16, 1805. He had a twin brother who wasn’t named in the passage. Sadly, the two brothers lost their mother when they were only five years old. Williams had in total of seven siblings, but during the process of this narrative; he only had four at the time. Williams had one brother, who became a member of the Baptist church. His wife taught him how to read and write. In that time, there was only a handful of literate slaves because there was an era where...
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...PERSPECTIVES BY Kurt StuKe The Unending Search Transformation in quality as a ‘thing in the making’ RECENTLY, STEPHEN K. Hacker wrote that “many of our organizations remain mired in their current states, frozen in old mindsets.” To free our organizations and 1 What follows is a contrast of the current grammar and its tacit assumptions concerning knowing, being and meaning to a different grammar born in the experiential-based philosophy of William James. The difference between grammars and the importance of the difference in the reconstruction of transformation and quality is explored. knower and thing known is usually referred to as the subject or object split within philosophy. The self or knower within such a vision is always distinct and apart from the world. The essential rationality and immutability of knowing and being within the traditional mindset lends itself to quantitative methods and statistical tools. You can progress safely through the define, measure, analyze, improve and control cycle—or choose not to—because the universe as defined through the traditional grammar is inherently knowable and predictable. You can differentiate between common cause and special-cause variation, and, by extension, processes that are in control and out of control because of the assumed stability within knowing, being and meaning. Language and meaning within these horizons also are based in antecedent truths. If you have the correct name of a thing, you have insight into...
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...Beliefs William A. Bruno Southern New Hampshire University William.Bruno@snhu.edu Either people believe there is a God, don’t believe in God or they are on the fence about whether or not God exists. It doesn’t matter what your position because no matter where you go there will always be somebody to tell you you’re wrong for what you believe in. During the next few paragraphs I will discuss a few different philosopher’s ideas by talking about the side of the fence, if either, they fall into and their views about the other side. The three philosophers I will talk about are Blaise Pascal, W.K. Clifford, and William James and their views on the whole believing in God thing. Blaise Pascal was for the idea of believing in God. Pascal’s thought were that “having a belief in God was useful even if not supported by the available evidence (Pascal).” His theory basically stated that if “someone fully devoted their life to the ways of Christianity they would soon believe what Christians believe” (Pascal). I personally don’t like this idea because I feel that this is, basically, brainwashing yourself. The next philosopher William James had theory that was along the same line as Pascal’s. He thought if people had the options between two really appealing choices the people have the right to act as their passion decides (James, 1896).” James thought it was pointless for us to permit the fear of holding a false belief to prevent us from losing the benefits of believing what...
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...Women in Psychology Paper PSY/310- History and Systems of Psychology September 16, 2012 Laura Rolen Like women, members of minority groups have been on the outside looking in for most of psychology’s history. Unlike the case for women, however, significant gains for blacks and most other minorities were not made in the years following World War II, and minorities continue to be underrepresented in psychology (Goodwin & Wiley & Sons inc., Chapter 15, 2008). In this paper I will be discussing Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930), Calkins was an American philosopher and she was the first of her generation of women to enter into psychology. Calkins was born on March 30, 1963 in Hartford, Connecticut she was the eldest of five children who were born to Charlotte Whiton Calkins (mother) and Wolcott Calkins (father). Calkins father was a Presbyterian minister her and her siblings lived and grew up in Buffalo New York, and at the age of 17-years-old her and her family moved to Newton, Massachusetts. Calkins started taking college classes at Smith College in 1882 where she was a...
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...History without context is little more than the recitation of unrelated events, and history without specific events is little more than a fanciful narrative; therefore, history exists as an interrelated duality between specific events and context. It is through the eyeglass of this apparent duality that the great accomplishments of science come firmly into view and the haziness of opinion and speculation are carried out of focus. Accordingly, Mary Whiton Calkins's life and research is best understood within the context of her upbringing and the zeitgeist of the time towards women, within the framework of self observation, the method of natural science, and associationism; and as the original thinker behind paired-associate learning and the partial resolution of the structuralism/functionalism controversy. Mary Calkins was 57 years-old before she was legally able to vote in the United States of America. Up until the early 20th century the role of woman was universally agree to be exclusively as a wife, mother, and caretaker for the elderly in the family (Goodwin, 2005). In fact, it was widely agreed that any intellectual pursuit beyond primary school could be physically harmful to women. However, by the time Calkins was 25 she was fluent in English, German, French, and Greek; well-traveled and well-read, and a graduate of Smith College in western Massachusetts. Mary Calkins was the eldest of five siblings and the daughter of a Congregationalist minister. The friction between...
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...Woman In Psychology Sarah Buonarigo PSY/310 April 4, 2013 Ms. Gina Craft Woman In Psychology: Mary Whiton Calkins Mary Whiton Calkins was the first female President of the American Psychological Association and in the American Philosophical Association Mary came from a family who highly valued education. It was no wonder that Mary Whiton Calkins was a pioneer in the field of psychology (Gale, 2001). She was known to invent many research techniques and made important advancements in the area of memory that believed to still be used today. Although Mary did not have an easy entrance in the field of psychology she was able to get her bachelors and continue studying psychology (Goodwin, 2008). Mary Calkins was never considered an official enrolled student at the University of Harvard like she would have wanted in order to obtain her undergraduate degree, however she was able to attend classes as a “guest” of the University of Harvard which still allowed her to receive an education in psychology (Goodwin, 2008). Background Mary Whiton Calkins was born March 30, 1863 in Hartford, Connecticut. Mary was the eldest of five children born to Reverend Wolcott Calkins and Charlotte Grosvenor Whiton. Mary took on adult responsibilities at a young age due to her mothers failing mental and physical health. Mary earned a bachelor of arts in the classics from Smith College and began teaching Greek at Wellesley College in 1887 (Gale, 2001). One year later she was offered a...
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... | | | | | |By Rev. David F. Austin | |3/6/2012 | |Pragmatism - an American movement in philosophy founded by C. S. Peirce and William James and marked by the doctrines that the meaning of | |conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings, that the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is preeminently to be| |tested by the practical consequences of belief. | 1 Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice. Important positions characteristic of pragmatism include instrumentalism, radical empiricism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, a denial of...
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...Question 1：Compare and contrast that Freud and James meant by religion. How does each feel that psychology illuminates the phenomenon of religion? a. Freud : “ The Future of an Illusion” * Oceanic feeling : In his opinion, there is not a strong enough need for it to be the source of all religious energy. Freud does not deny that this feeling may occur in people and offers a psychoanalytical explanation. Freud argues that the "oceanic feeling", if it exists, is the preserved "primitive ego-feeling" from infancy. The primitive ego-feeling precedes the creation of the ego and exists up until the mother ceases breastfeeding. Prior to this, the infant is regularly breastfed in response to its crying and has no concept that the breast does not belong to it. Therefore, the infant has no concept of a "self" or, rather, considers the breast to be part of itself. Freud argues that those experiencing an oceanic feeling as an adult are actually experiencing a preserved primitive ego-feeling. The ego, in contrast, comes into existence when the breast is taken away, and involves the infant's recognition that it is separate from the mother's breast, and therefore, that other persons exist. Freud argues that it would not necessarily contradict psychoanalytical theory for this primary ego-feeling to coexist along with the ego in some people. The main argument for this is that psychoanalytical theory holds that all thoughts are preserved in a conservation of psychic energy. Therefore...
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