James on Self

Reading William James is enough to make one cry. Especially if that one is aware of the current state of psychology. For James makes it readily apparent that humanity has been removed from the one scientific discipline intended to explain that very principle. Whether this is appropriate or not is a discussion well worth having, but this is not my focus. My current concern is about the ideas of James, and this is quite a fascinating topic.

The first thing to mention is what I find most bothersome about James' ideas. Far too much effort is expended on justifying concepts that he very well should have let go of. These are religious concepts, and it seems that his explanations in these areas often go far beyond what any honest look at the evidence should allow. In the scheme of James ideas this seems but a small issue to spend much of my efforts on. What I really wish to examine are the ideas of his that are still worthwhile and for this I turn to the issue of self.

It should be noted at this point that I have not read very much of James. I have tasted what he has to offer and am thirsting for more. Eventually I plan to read his Principles of Psychology in entirety. Now I will just focus on the one chapter I have read (the tenth chapter of Principles) The Consciousness of Self. In this astounding section James outlines what he feels the "self" is really made of. This self involves both a self conception and a conscious ego aware of that self. It is really this ego that fascinates me most as the Thought (James' Word for a the totality of a person's "present mental state") actually gains ownership all former Thoughts. Self-hood is created through the familiarity or "warmth" that thoughts about ourselves contain (self conception.)

I find that this brilliant model of self introspection explains a version of myself that I actually deal with from day to day. It is a self that does not ever really retain a consistent "self" as an object like the "soul" would allow, yet an overall self-ness seems to emerge from my stream of consciousness. The self I experience daily doesn't, in fact, maintain itself consistently. This happens to the point in which I can look at my former self like a stranger, even though I know his every fear, desire and explanation. Yet at any moment I can retain from my former Thoughts that which I choose.

A good analogy for this model would be to separate Thoughts into days. Say I were to live life in such a way that the only possessions I would retain at the beginning of a day were those that I left in a box for myself the day before. This box would not just contain possessions but rather all my higher knowledge as well. If I were to leave myself a box full of valuable items then my next day would be much easier. There would be what to work with. On the other hand, if I left myself a nearly empty box full of as much junk as useful material I would be in a very difficult position the next day. Obviously I could take the good box and still manage to have a bad day or vice versa but on the majority of days we could assume no such sudden changes would take place. Instead a gradual lift or fall could be expected. This is basically what the idea of Thoughts is to me with one substitution. Instead of us manually filling the boxes each day, our days themselves become the contents of the next day's box.

Well there is still much to think about but I'd probably be better off if I had actually read Jame's entire book. So on I go...