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WILLIAM JAMES’S THEORY OF

Celal Türer

Education can be defined according to its , aim, method, to whom it is addressed, etc., and from various perspectives.1 The general perspective towards which almost all of these definitions converge is that education is a struggle for maintaining desirable behavior in human actions. When we look at the history of humanity, we see that every , every , and every , in order to maintain its existence, has had their own concept of education and they educate their followers using some perspective on . Human are at the axis of these educational and learning processes.2 There must be some type of a “definition of the human ” that shapes the “human type to be achieved” at the foundation of all concepts of education. Thus, all that define the human being have to establish their concepts of education and decide how to make these forms of education fit their definitions of the human.3 In general, is a field of knowledge that investi- gates the problem of historical, social, and cultural perpetuation, and this field uses its findings to illuminate our understanding of the human being in special and universal perspectives. Then, a concept of education can be fashioned to conform with the understanding gained. We know that many different concepts of education have arisen in the history of human thought; some have been discarded, while a few are still alive through many changes over .4 We can infer from our comprehension of human history that the concept of education that we seek should be established by our best attempt to under- stand human beings, and then to define humanity adequately, determining both the nature of humanity and its telos. An adequate concept of education will thus provides guidance and determine the directions, methods, and technical tools for education. At this stage, we see that we cannot ignore how human beings have struggled with great effort to know themselves. Although we have a treasure of knowledge produced by the insight of scientists, philosophers, mystics, and poets, our views about humanity come to us only through the particular aspects of human beings. We cannot thereby know the essence of humanity, because all individuals are manifestations of their original social institutions, that were built by human beings. We believe that this ignorance about humanity has a special . This ignorance does not result from any failure to collect necessary data, nor 30 CELAL TÜRER does it result from incorrect or scarce data. On the contrary, this ignorance stems from the fact that the available data is extremely abundant and . The problem we confront is to first formulate plausible options for defining humanity from this data, and second, to comprehend each definition in its historical roots. From the point of view that we mentioned above, I will try to establish ’s theory of education in a way that highlights its special formulation of the concept of humanity as outlined in this essay. To explain James’s theory of education in detail would require a long and exhausting effort; therefore, this paper will consider his theory of education in a more general manner. James’s philosophical views have been read by many philosophers and scholars in various contexts and interpreted in different ways. If such disagreements concern his writings, we can appreciate the difficulties that arise concerning issues not found in James’s writings. There is no book of James’s, nor any book about James, concerning the theory of education; there are only a few essays. Indeed, to establish James’s theory of education is harder than to establish James’s other views.5 Some of his works are relevant to education: The Principles of , published in 1890; Psychology, published in 1892; and Talks to Teachers, written in 1892 and published in 1899. I believe that Talks to Teachers may be the most helpful first source of his views on education, but it is not sufficient to establish a complete theory of education. When he wrote that book, he was speaking as a and had not yet established his mature . Many writers agree that James’s philo- sophy can be considered as having several stages. For example, Bennett Ramsey suggests the usual scholarly division of James’s writings into three parts (early philosophical and psychological works; a middle period of “tender minded” religious investigation; and a late, strictly philosophical period.6 Hence, it is difficult to derive a basis for a whole theory of education from Talks to Teachers. Besides, when one investigates Talks to Teachers, the reader comes across issues about psychology, the workings and abilities of the , and general thoughts that descriptively reflect his concept of humanity which are presented in the context of functional psycology; but there is no philosophical background and structure behind it. It is necessary to correctly reconcile the data about psychology derived from that book with his philo- sophical views, especially his principles of experience, , and the theory of truth. This will require extraordinary effort. Do these considerations mean that James did not have any views about education, after establishing his philosophy, not to mention his particular views on education exclusively? It is difficult to claim that James has no views on education. He was in education as a popular teacher for 35 years, from 1872 to 1907. Moreover, he produced important scholarly research in psychology and philosophy, both of which are inclusive and extensive fields. One can see that