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Metaphysics Through Metaphors: Towards An METAPHYSICS THROUGH METAPHORS: TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF TIME IN PSYCHOLOGY WITH WILLIAM JAMES'S PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY DANIEL A. NOEL A thesis subrnitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Programme in Psychoiogy York University North York, Ontario December, 1998 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*I of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Setvices services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your hie Voire référence Our Lle Nolre réfdrence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seli reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette îhèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/fih, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Metaphysics through metaphors: Towards an understanding of Time with William James's Principles of Psychology by Daniel Allen Noel a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Permission has been granted to the LIBRARY OF YORK UNIVERSITY to lend or seIl copies of this thesis, to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and to UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS to publish an abstract of this thesis. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or othenvise reproduced without the author's written permission. Abstract This thesis focuses on William James's (1 842- 19 10) conceptualization of Time in his seminal work, The Principles of Psycholow (1890). On the surface, James's explicit statements concerning Time advance the temporal assumptions that were conventional for science. According to the conventional scientific idea, Time was exclusiveIy quantitative, homogeneous, linear. and reductive; in other words, it was objecrive. An examination of James's metaphors, however, reveals another idea of Time that was implicit in his presentation of concepts such as the stream of consciousness, the fringe of felt relations, and the saddleback of the specious present. Historical evidence and recent discussions on the use of metaphor in science support the suggestion that metaphors function in James's work as iiterary bridges between philosophy and natural science. Through metaphors, James at once provides the philosophical underpinnings of his ideas, but without undermining his proposa1 that psychology should be treated as a natural science, The idea of Time that emerges out of his metaphors is one that is more inclusive, one that advocates the more subjective characteristics inhering in the experience of Time: such as its qualitative, heterogeneous, and irreducible characteristics. In effect, James accomrnodates the scientific approach to psychology by supplementing the scientific conceptualization of Time with one that is more inclusive, and thus more authenticating, of the psychological view of reality. Acknowledgements 1 would like to acknowledge the aid of York University's Research Costs Fund and Harvard University's Houghton Library Archives in providing me access to much of the historical material conceming William James. Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: A PRESENTATION OF THE ISSUES ...................................................................... 1 OVERVIEW.............................................................................................................................................. 1 TEMPORALASSUMPTlONS WlTHIN PSYCHOLOGY............................... .., ...................................................4 The 'prevalertce' and 'iniplicimess' of temporal assum~tions.............................................................. 4 The problemic of ~svcho1o~~'sremuoral assumprions.................. ., ......................................................6 CONCEPTUALIZWGTIME ............................................................................................................................ 9 SCIENCE.TIME, AND PSYCHOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 14 Slife 'sdescription ofNewtoninn tirne........................................................................................... 23 A probleniatic solution-Oaeratinr~al anah*sis................................................................................... 26 Criticisms ofpsvcholonv 's Newotiiarz assumptions ofTime ..............................................................31 TLMEAND WILLIAM JAMES:THE m.AND METAPHORS ...........................................................................33 CHAPTER 2: RELEVANT SOURCES OF WILLIAM JAMES'S PRINCIPLES OF PSY CHOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................... 46 EARLYLIE .............................................................................................................................................. 46 STUDIES AND EXPLORATION..................................................................................................................... 51 THEPRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY( 1 890) ................................................................................................ 63 SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 3: METAPHYSICS THROUGH METAPHORS ............................................................... 70 THEIMPLlClT METAPHYSICSIN JAMES'SNATURAL SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY....................................... 71 The novelnr ofJames's scientific approach to ~svcholonv................................................................. 72 The assumptions ofthe natural science ofpsvcholoay ........................................................................ 74 JAMES'SSTYLE AND METHOD ...................................................................................................................79 James's stvle .......................................................................................................................................79 James's metaphors: literary bridges between philosophy and science .............................................................81 RUDIMENTSOF METAPHORKAL ANALYSE .............................................................................................. 89 Metaphor in Literafure........................................................................................................................ 89 The coristructivist account ................................................................................................................... 92 The role ofnletaphors in science ........................, ............................................................................. 96 A histonographical note ...................................................................................................................................98 METAPHYSICSTHROUGH METAPHORS ................................................................................................. 101 Heraclitus and temporal a~oria........................................................................................................ 102 The strcamlchain/train/current/physiologysystem of metaphors ,.................................................................. 103 Zeno 'sparadox ofremnorai contirtuin1..................................... .... ............................................... 110 Kant's critique ...............................................................................................................................................113 James's rebuttal: The stream/saddleback/flight/fnnge/flowsystem of metaphors ..................................... 115 DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................................ 130 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 131 Chapter One: The Issues Presented Overview In this, and following chapters, 1will explicate William James's (1 842- 19 10) contributions to the temporal assumptions' that have developed within psychology. This analysis focuses on some important vehicles of James's influence in psychology; namely the metaphors in his fundamental text, The Principles of Psycholony (1 890), and the central concept of this work, the "stream of consciousness." Additionally, 1 will discuss concepts reIated to the temporal aspects of James's discussions of hurnan experience (e.g., the specious present), and incorporate suppIementary material from James that fell both before and after
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