The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)James, William
Philosophy
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)
James, William
Psychology
_Fourth Proof._ Problems unsolved when we go to bed are found solved
in the morning when we wake. Somnambulists do rational things. We
awaken punctually at an hour predetermined overnight, etc. Unconscious
thinking, volition, time-registration, etc., must have presided over
these acts.
_Reply._ Consciousness forgotten, as in the hypnotic trance.
_Fifth Proof._ Some patients will often, in an attack of epileptiform
unconsciousness, go through complicated processes, such as eating a
dinner in a restaurant and paying for it, or making a violent homicidal
attack. In trance, artificial or pathological, long and complex
performances, involving the use of the reasoning powers, are executed,
of which the patient is wholly unaware on coming to.
_Reply._ Rapid and complete oblivescence is certainly the explanation
here. The analogue again is hypnotism. Tell the subject of an hypnotic
trance, during his trance, that he _will_ remember, and he may remember
everything perfectly when he awakes, though without your telling him no
memory would have remained. The extremely rapid oblivescence of common
_dreams_ is a familiar fact.
_Sixth Proof._ In a musical concord the vibrations of the several notes
are in relatively simple ratios. The mind must unconsciously count the
vibrations, and be pleased by the simplicity which it finds.
_Reply._ The brain-process produced by the simple ratios may be as
directly agreeable as the conscious process of comparing them would be.
No counting, either conscious or 'unconscious,' is required.
_Seventh Proof._ Every hour we make theoretic judgments and emotional
reactions, and exhibit practical tendencies, for which we can give
no explicit logical justification, but which are good inferences from
certain premises. We know more than we can say. Our conclusions run
ahead of our power to analyze their grounds. A child, ignorant of
the axiom that two things equal to the same are equal to each other,
applies it nevertheless in his concrete judgments unerringly. A boor
will use the _dictum de omni et nullo_ who is unable to understand it
in abstract terms.
"We seldom consciously think how our house is painted, what the shade
of it is, what the pattern of our furniture is, or whether the door
opens to the right or left, or out or in. But how quickly should we
notice a change in any of these things! Think of the door you have
most often opened, and tell, if you can, whether it opens to the
right or left, out or in. Yet when you open the door you never put
the hand on the wrong side to find the latch, nor try to push it when
it opens with a pull.... What is the precise characteristic in your
friend's step that enables you to recognize it when he is coming? Did
you ever consciously think the idea, 'if I run into a solid piece of
matter I shall get hurt, or be hindered in my progress'? and do you
avoid running into obstacles because you ever distinctly conceived, or
consciously acquired and thought, that idea?"[181]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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