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uthor's personal copy ! , William, James on the Mind and Its Fringes , B J Baars,, The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, CA, USA , ã 2009, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. , , , , , episodic recall). All of sensory psychophysics Glossary, , is based on this straightforward method, Automaticity, habit – The tendency of , going back to Newton’s discovery of the practiced,, predictable events to fade from subjective color spectrum, which is highly consciousness, after repetition, including , reliable between subjects. voluntary actions, concepts, mental images, , Hypnosis – A state of surprisingly high and attentional, routines. Automatic , compliance with external suggestions, processes tend to be specialized, take up , especially after a perceived induction little conscious, capacity, and may resist procedure, which may be arbitrary or voluntary, control. , symbolic. Hypnotic suggests can influence Behaviorism – An influential physicalistic , sensory perception, the normal sense of philosophy, of psychology, some forms of , voluntary control, emotions, imagery, pain which deny the existence or functional role of , perception, analgesia, and their known brain consciousness., correlates. A high percentage of the normal Conscious, experiences, focal – , population is considered to be ‘‘highly Experiences like sensory perception, visual , hypnotizable’’ as measured by standardized imagery,, inner speech, visualizable action , tasks. Such subjects seem to treat the plans, etc., which tend to have sensory , hypnotist’s suggestions as highly credible, features, like color, texture, taste, object although they do not act in violation of their identity,, and the like. , ordinary social norms. Hypnosis may Conscious, experiences, fringe – involve an absorbed state with minimal Experiences, that lack specific, sensory , self-examination. qualities, like the tip-of-the-tongue state (the , Ideomotor theory – In William James and intention, to seek a missing word), feelings of , others, the notion that conscious goals are knowing, familiarity, and plausibility, intuitive , inherently impulsive, and tend to be carried judgments,, specific intentions to act, out by default unless they are inhibited by expectations,, relational terms in grammar, , other conscious thoughts or intentions. logic and, reasoning, abstract meanings, Introspective reports – Reports about emotional, connotations, and numerous other , conscious experiences, which can range conscious or quasi-conscious events that , from highly reliable ones (such as can be, reported with high accuracy but low psychophysical reports) to unreliable ones sensory, specificity. , (such as mental images evoked by abstract Conscious, experiences, operational concepts). definition, of – While there is no agreed- , Introspectionism – A controversial term upon theoretical, definition of conscious experiences,, in actual practice scientists attributed by behavioristic historians to have used, ‘‘accurate verbal report’’ for nineteenth century researchers on the topic , of consciousness. Introspection was several, centuries with excellent reliability. This is a useful operational definition of a , explicitly disavowed as a useful method by , the most productive experimental large range of conscious experiences, both , sensory and endogenous (as in the case of , psychologist of the nineteenth century, conscious inner speech, visual imagery, and , Wilhelm Wundt.Wundt criticized 459 !"#$#%&'()*+,&-,.&"/#*&0/"(//,!"##$%&'()*+'"&',,+'-.$/-01' ! Author's personal copy ! 460 William James on the Mind and Its Fringes , introspection, as unreliable, and rarely used it. One of the wonderful things about James’ , Principles is his open embrace of the whole range However,, Wundt’s popular introduction to psychology, used introspective examples, of human experiences. He has the rare gift of which, may have misled many of his readers letting go of his own biases for a while to let the , phenomena shine. That, plus his extraordinary in English., Most of Wundt’s extensive body of writing, was never translated into English, ability to describe and analyze subtle aspects of , our experiences makes him more than a man leading, to decades of highly misleading interpretation, of Wundt as an obsessed with philosophical disputes. That is why , ‘‘introspectionist.’’ However, introspective scientists find themselves revisiting James on , topics like selective attention, the stream of con- method, was utilized by the Wuertzburg School, and by Edward Titchener, who were sciousness, the remarkable range of fringe experi- , ences, and much more. strongly, criticized for that by Wundt. Stream, of consciousness – The apparently James attributed his penchant for observation to , unpredictable moment-to-moment contents Luis Agassiz, one of the great naturalists of the , nineteenth century, with whom he traveled on an and discontinuities, of spontaneous conscious, thinking. William James expedition to the Amazon. Like Charles Darwin, , Agassiz was a passionate observer of flora and popularized, the ‘‘stream of consciousness’’ metaphor,, and also the bird flight analogy of fauna, a great collector, endlessly seeking the pat- , ‘‘flights’’ and ‘‘perches’’ in the flow of terns in living things. For example, Agassiz is cred- , ited with discovering the geological evidence for conscious, experiences. , the Ice Ages, a remarkable feat of naturalistic obs- , ervation. From Agassiz, James learned the vital , , habit of trying to free one’s mind from prior ‘‘Psychology,’’, William James wrote in 1890, ‘‘is the beliefs, for, in biology as in psychology, preconcep- description, and explanation of states of consciousness, tions undermine our ability to see. This habit was such as, sensations, desires, emotions, cognitions, rea- , sometimes called ‘botanism,’ the passionate obser- sonings,, decisions, volitions, and the like.’’ vation, collection, and classification of plants and , That, was the broad consensus during most of animals for their own sake. James’ Principles ‘bota- Western, and Asian history, and during the century nized’ the psychology of the nineteenth century. As , of scientific, studies summarized in James’ Principles a compendium of psychological facts and ideas the of Psychology, (1890). Principles has not been surpassed. The period, from 1780 to 1910 was arguably the James despised obstacles to free inquiry and , Golden, Age of consciousness science, simply filled pursued his interest in the mind everywhere, with discoveries, about sensory experiences, mental through hypnosis, nitrous oxide intoxication, , and neurological, disorders, hypnotic suggestion, accounts of religious experiences, his reluctance visual imagery,, voluntary control and its loss, and to get out of bed on a cold morning, the tip-of-the- much more., James’ offers 1400 pages of tongue state, psychic claims, and clinical accounts , Principles inspired, writing on the major questions of human of multiple personality syndromes. He was rarely a psychology., Building on mostly European studies, true believer or a rigid skeptic, but always an , it has given, us classic descriptions of the stream of explorer. conscious, thought, selective attention, mental imag- , ery, hypnosis,, multiple personality, habit, effortful concentration,, the basic arguments for and against Fringe Consciousness unconscious, processes, a theory of voluntary control , and its disorders, the crucial distinction between ,By far the bulk of James’ Principles is devoted self-as-subject and self-as-agent, and much more. ,to the same empirical phenomena we study , On many of these topics James’ thinking is fully ,today. Only a few out of some thirty chapters up to date, and it is embarrassing that much of the ,of that work were philosophical, but those few time he is still ahead of the scientific curve today. chapters have received far more attention than !"#$#%&'()*+,&-,.&"/#*&0/"(//,!"##$%&'()*+'"&',,+'-.$/-01' ! Author's personal copy ! William James on the Mind and Its Fringes 461 , James’ empirical, side. Philosophers have done a Suppose we try to recall a forgotten name. The state of better job, in appreciating William James than have our consciousness is peculiar. There is a gap therein; , but no mere gap. It is a gap that is intensely active. scientists,, in general, though he was at least as A sort of a wraith of the name is in it, beckoning us in a much an, empiricist as a metaphysician. Fringe-conscious, experiences provide an excel- given direction, making