The Principles of Psychology, Vol. 1: Volume 1

by William James

Book Overview

"For the psychologist, standard reading, to all readers, a classic of interpretation." -- Psychiatric Quarterly
This is the first inexpensive edition of the complete Long Course in Principles of Psychology, one of the great classics of modern Western literature and science and the source of the ripest thoughts of America's most important philosopher. As such, it should not be confused with the many abridgements that omit key sections...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486203816
• ISBN13: 9780486203812
• Release Date: June 1950
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 720 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A masterful challenge to contemporary cognitive science

This book is a beautiful classic. James is unafraid to tackle the perplexing questions about consciousness. He is also unencumbered by simplistic theoretical assumptions or restrictive definitions of science, but he holds to a high standard of clarity and steers for the truth.This book is a brilliant catalogue of the phenomena that must be explained by the various brain and psychological sciences. While the behaviorist movement that came after James led to important advances in scientific method, in terms of objectively establishing empirical results, it also led to a massive denial of mental phenomena that cannot at present be explained purely in mechanical or behaviorial terms. Because subsequent generations have denied the phenomena, or written them off as "illusions" or "folk psychology," as is still common today, this book is a precious trove of unbiased insights about the mind. I would thus agree with the other reviewers that this is a great book. However, while they seem to claim James for functionalism, (which is I think the dominant framework for understanding mind in contemporary cognitive science--holding that implementing certain functions such as self-representation and planning, are what makes a system conscious, no matter what it's made out of) I suggest that much of James' critique of what he calls the "mind-stuff theory" and the "associationists" is equally devastating to what is now called functionalism. For example, people still talk about patterns of brain actvity as if they had objective, ontological reality. But we can completely describe the brain at the level of molecules without reference to patterns, so the pattern is not an intrinsic, necessary way of interpreting the activity of the physical brain system. Similarly, having the idea of A and the idea of B does not imply having the idea of A+B. James makes this basic point in multiple ways in his book. It seems more or less equivalent to the point articulated in recent times by John Searle, that "any physical process you might find is computational only relative to some interpretation," ie some observer (in "The Mystery of Consciousness" p.16). When expressed in Searle's modern language, it is more clear why the distinction between real objective properties of a system and its extrinsic observer-dependent properties, is a big problem for contemporary functionalism.In any case, I highly recommend this book to any serious student of psychology. It's not for boneing up for psych exams or grant proposals, but for patiently ruminating on and savoring.

A road not taken

Why would anyone want to read a book about psychology that was first published 113 years ago? One answer is the rationale for reading any psychology book: that it provides insights into psychological issues not available elsewhere. Although many psychologists of the late 19th and early 20th century probably started their career byreading this book, it is not appropriate today as an introduction to psychology. Too many of James's viewpoints are antiquated, and his facts, outdated or incorrect. Neither is it the book to read if you are looking for contemporary psychological views or a compilation of psychological knowledge. Recent textbooks are better for these purposes. Yet, the word most frequently used to describe James's Principles of Psychologyis probably 'monumental' and rightly so because not only is this a lengthy work (~1400pgs),but it also is the culmination of a long line of philosophical thinking about the Soul, Self, Mind, Matter, and related topics that began with the pre-Socratic Greeksand continued through the 19th century, when positivist philosophers and experimentalists began to explore psychologically relevant philosophical questions in more concrete terms, invoking a scientific method and rejecting metaphysics. At the end of the 19th century, a seeming riot of discussion about the meaning of life, the nature of consciousness, mind, ego, evolution, and related subjects dominated the scientific and popular culture. At this point in history, William James, an American trained as a physician and employed as a Harvard professor, examines the various philosophies of the previous two millenia, picking out those aspects relevant to psychology, comparing and sorting them to reveal their value as unambiguous theories that might be tested by research, and reflecting on how the evidence stacks up in their favor. He also advances his own, original conceptions on various issues.His work is not the first to collect speculation and evidence into a coherent psychology, and there are many previous works with "Psychology" in their titles,but James's efforts would galvanize an American discipline of psychological science thatwould eventually become a dominant intellectual force. James defines psychology as the "Science of Mental Life" and describes the stream of consciousness as "the ultimate fact for psychology." Out of his viewpoint, the school of functionalism in psychology developed, where the mind is conceived as a useful organ that evolves according to natural selection and grows accordingto discoverable rules. His orientation towards physiological and behavioral data eventually diminished the then dominant psychologicalmethod of introspection that James himself uses so frequently with great effect. Subsequent viewpoints in psychology, such as behaviorism, though taking part of theirinspiration from functionalism, reject James's definition of psychology, so thatby the end of the 20th century, most psychologists with an empirical orientation

The Bible

James has been rightly credited as the father of Psychology, and this was the work that launched psychology into a field of its own. When it came out some 100 years ago, The Principles was criticized as "un-systematic." James would have taken this as a compliment. It is exactly because this book is not an elaborately contrived system that it remains fresh as a morning flower. Full of details and insight, it is perhaps the most epic and insightful psychological work every produced. That said, The Principles doesn't quite stay within the bounds of psychology. As you will see from the citations (which are voluminous), James was also well read in the humanities, from abstruse philosophy to literary fiction. But then, James was living in a time when Philosophy and Psychology were not distinct disciplines. Not a problem if you enjoy philosophizing. For its breadth, scope and penetrating insights, this book might never grow stale.