William James

The Association of Ideas William James

How do we create complex ideas out of simple sensations? How do we form deep concepts by combining shallow ones?William James (1842-1910) is considered as one of the founding fathers of psychology as a scientific discipline. He also established the psychological tradition ofPragmatism along with Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey. James was very well educated on philosophy, physiology, and psychology.
In this book, James questions the foundations of human consciousness. He is trying to answer the following questions by applying to his vast knowledge of the human brain and philosophical literature:
How different ideas come together by obeying the laws of association?What are the underlying neural mechanisms for association?How is the "train of thoughts" possible?Do we really merge simple sensations to create even the most complex concepts?How do we learn? How do we forget? How do we remember?James' writings address any reader with any background. He writes very clearly and directly to the point. Without further ado, here are some passages from the book:
"Two great philosophic efforts to this end have been made. The one is called the associationist philosophy of England, the other the Herbartian system of Germany. Professor Bain's books are generally regarded as the most successful expression of the first movement."
"Most of us, however, are better organized than this, and our musings pursue an erratic course, swerving continually into a new direction traced out by the shifting play of interest as it irradiates always some partial item in each complex representation that is evoked."
"In the pages that follow I accept all these laws save that of contrast; and that I do not reject, but simply ignore and disregard on the present occasion. I try to show how they all may follow from certain variations in a fundamental process of activity in the brain. In particular I reduce Contiguous and Similar Associations to one, by exhibiting their most pronounced forms as mere extremes of a common mode."
"Professor Bain, reverting to Hume's standpoint, supplements the law of Contiguity by that of Similarity, and, in a subordinate degree, by that of Contrast. All the materials of thought, without conception, are in his psychology pushed or drawn before the footlights of consciousness by the working of these laws and by them alone."
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