William James: biography of a pioneer in psychological science

William James was more than just a notable philosopher of the late 19th century. Until his arrival, American society associated psychology with mere practices of fortune-telling or mind reading. Thanks to him and the experimental psychology laboratory that he founded at Harvard, this field was established as a scientific discipline, thus becoming one of the great pioneers in this area.

Today, There are many who still consider James to be the most outstanding American philosopher and also the father of modern psychology.. His extensive works cover multiple disciplines, ranging from epistemology, education, metaphysics, religion, mysticism, anatomy and of course, psychology.

The way in which William James came to stand out and become one of the leaders in this area of ​​knowledge was undoubtedly something as unique as it was significant. He spent much of his youth suffering from multiple ailments., strange illnesses and physical limitations such as partial deafness. All these conditions and discomforts caused him, at one point in his life, to consider suicide.

In that state of apparent melancholy He came to the conclusion that what ailed him was nothing more than a disease of the mind and also of the soul.. Hence, he wanted to investigate other areas to seek answers in knowledge and disciplines that in the long run gave him great revelations: philosophy and psychology.

William James: an eclectic education and personal aspiration

James was born in 1842 in a well-to-do house characterized by artistic, scientific and intellectual interest.. Her parents moved among the cultural elites of the time, so they decided to give their children the most eclectic and cosmopolitan education possible.

He spent much of his childhood traveling around the world with his family. At first, he felt an artistic inclination for painting. Later, he was attracted to science. So in 1861 he began his medical studies at Harvard University.

At that time, his brother, Henry James, was already beginning to stand out in the literary field, while his sister, Alice, was doing so in the field of history. However, At one point, William decided to postpone his medical studies and begin a scientific expedition through the Amazon with the naturalist Louis Agassiz.

That trip lasted almost two years to serve as a suitable time for personal reflection. Medicine would not be his only field of work and study. His mind, his innate curiosity about the brain and human behavior, asked for much more. I longed to delve into more areas of knowledge…

William James and the scientific study of the human mind

William James spent his entire academic career at Harvard. First he was a professor of physiology, later he was a professor of anatomy, then of psychology and later he would be a professor of philosophy. His most important work would be published in 1890, just after opening the first experimental psychology laboratory at the university.

This work was Principles of psychologygy (a book of more than eleven hundred pages) where he addressed the main areas of this science, such as memory, imagination, reasoning, emotions, habit and self-consciousness. Now, He worked on all of these areas in his book from a very specific point of view: the philosophical one.

This rather pragmatic view of psychology as a science made William James one of the precursors of functionalism. This approach would later give rise to the emergence of behaviorism.

Conscience according to William James

William James wanted to deepen and delimit the study of consciousness through experimental physiology. He did so alongside other experts, such as Henry Pickering Bowditch and James Jackson Putnam. All with a very specific purpose: to try to locate it in some area of ​​the brain.

After a series of tests and analyses, concluded that consciousness is actually a process. It is the notion we have of ourselves. It is an immense sum of domains that includes everything we have experienced and felt, our past and also our future potential.Consciousness for William James was defined as a set of images, thoughts and sensations.. These can be transitory or permanent for a time in our mind. Psychology, therefore, could analyze this process. That is, the flow of thoughts to thus being able to delimit that very abstract idea that makes up the “I”.

Reaching these conclusions was not easy for William James, since it was very difficult for him to define what consciousness or being conscious is. And if the object of study cannot be defined, it is difficult to conduct research on it. Therefore, the great challenge he took on was to explain this mental phenomenon in philosophical terms.

To approach it from a philosophical position, he compared consciousness to a river. The river metaphor describes consciousness as an incessant flow of thoughts, ideas, and mental images. This reasoning implies, then, accepting that in consciousness there is nothing substantive, that is, that can be stored or isolated to be investigated, since everything that passes through it is connected to the situation, to the context. The only thing that remains stable is that “current”. From this reflection, William James concludes that consciousness is not an object, but a process.

William James and the study of emotions

That determined interest of William James to understand human behavior, it was almost inevitable that at some point in his career he would not place his scientific curiosity in the field of emotions.

He did it together with Carl Lange, a Danish doctor who was an expert in physiology. Together they enunciated the well-known theory of emotion James-Lange. Through which, it is understood that emotion is the perception that the mind has of the physiological conditions that arise from a certain stimulus. For example, if I see that there is a snake next to me, I do not experience fear when thinking about it. that can attack me. It is my body and my consciousness that generate a certain physiological response. That response is what ultimately causes the emotion. Flight and the physical reaction would, according to this theory, be what triggers that feeling of fear and anguish.

The mental aspect of emotion, a mere slave of our physiological processes.

The theories of James Williams

James’s theoretical contributions to psychology include:

Functionalism: James opposed the structuralist approach and the reduction of mental events to the smallest elements. He focused on the entirety of an event, taking into account the impact of the environment on behavior.

theory of emotion James-Lange: This theory proposes that an event triggers a physiological reaction, which we then interpret. Thus, emotions are caused by the interpretations we make of physiological reactions..

Pragmatism: James wrote extensively on pragmatism. According to this, the truth of an idea can never be proven. Therefore, William James suggested that we focus on the usefulness of an idea.

The legacy of William James: a philosopher and a pioneer in psychology

William James died of heart failure at home in New Hampshire on August 26, 1910. He was 68 years old and left behind an immense, varied and fascinating legacy for psychology.

He established the philosophical school of pragmatism and functional psychology. Besides, He established empiricism in his scientific studies. Finally, he was one of the first psychologists to delve into the study and understanding of the brain.

Thanks to him, the first pillars of those psychological disciplines were raised that, to this day, continue to advance. And to those notable figures so eager and passionate about human knowledge, such as William James himself.

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