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William James (1842-1910)
Born in New
York City in on January 11,
1842 to an affluent,
cosmopolitan, deeply religious, and very accomplished family, William James
has
been established as one of the most influential figures in the field of
Psychology. His
twelve-hundred page masterwork, The Principles of Psychology
(1890) is considered to be one of the most
important texts in the history of modern psychology and it certainly a notable contribution to the process of human
intellectualism. It took James twelve years of writing and work in psychology with colleagues like
Hugo Munsterburg to produce this book that approached the discipline of
Psychology from the perspective of
anecdotal introspection and the experimental methods of a natural
science and moved effortlessly back and forth from
one level of analysis to another. James was conversant with the current
psychological literature in English, French, German, and Italian
which allowed his book to be one the first truly international endeavors. James artistic eye and impressive prose style combined to makeThe Principles one of the richest insights into the
depth and intricacies of the mind and human nature that has been presented.
James emphasized the individual self
can be thought of as a continuous "stream of consciousness" which is
then able to exercise free will.
James had life-long struggles with such severe bouts of hypochondria, melancholy, and depression that he regarded himself as living only through a deliberate effort of will. On the other hand, as a psychologist, James investigated the phenomena of psychopathology and exceptional mental states. He linked his psychology, wherever possible, to the facts of nervous physiology, but he was foremost a philosopher interested in issues such as the relationship of mind to body and the continuity of self.
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These pictures were taken from:
http://www.percepp.demon.co.uk/time.htm
http://www.emory.edu/education/mfp/jphotos.html
James had life-long struggles with such severe bouts of hypochondria, melancholy, and depression that he regarded himself as living only through a deliberate effort of will. On the other hand, as a psychologist, James investigated the phenomena of psychopathology and exceptional mental states. He linked his psychology, wherever possible, to the facts of nervous physiology, but he was foremost a philosopher interested in issues such as the relationship of mind to body and the continuity of self.
<Previous Next>
History Main Page
Homepage
These pictures were taken from:
http://www.percepp.demon.co.uk/time.htm
http://www.emory.edu/education/mfp/jphotos.html