The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)James, William
Philosophy
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)
James, William
Psychology
[172] I find in my students an almost invincible tendency to think that
we can immediately perceive that feelings do combine. "What!" they say,
"is not the taste of lemonade composed of that of lemon _plus_ that of
sugar?" This is taking the combining of objects for that of feelings.
The physical lemonade contains both the lemon and the sugar, but its
taste does not contain their tastes, for if there are any two things
which are certainly _not_ present in the taste of lemonade, those are
the lemon-sour on the one hand and the sugar-sweet on the other. These
tastes are absent utterly. The entirely new taste which is present
_resembles_, it is true, both those tastes; but in Chapter XIII we
shall see that resemblance can not always be held to involve partial
identity.
[173] E. Montgomery, in 'Mind,' v, 18-19. See also pp. 24-5.
[174] J. Royce, 'Mind,' vi, p. 376. Lotze has set forth the truth
of this law more clearly and copiously than any other writer.
Unfortunately he is too lengthy to quote. See his Microcosmus, bk. ii,
ch. i, § 5; Metaphysik, §§ 242, 260; Outlines of Metaphysics, part ii,
chap. i, §§ 3, 4, 5. Compare also Reid's Intellectual Powers, essay v,
chap. iii, _ad fin._; Bowne's Metaphysics, pp. 361-76; St. J. Mivart:
Nature and Thought, pp. 98-101; E. Gurney: 'Monism,' in 'Mind,' vi,
153; and the article by Prof. Royce, just quoted, on 'Mind-stuff and
Reality.'
_In defence of the mind-stuff view,_ see W. K. Clifford: 'Mind,' iii,
57 (reprinted in his 'Lectures and Essays,' ii, 71); G. T. Fechner,
Psychophysik, Bd. ii, cap. xlv; H. Taine: on Intelligence, bk. iii; E.
Haeckel: 'Zellseelen u. Seelenzellen' in Gesammelte pop. Vorträge, Bd.
i, p. 143; W. S. Duncan: Conscious Matter, _passim_; H. Zöllner: Natur
d. Cometen, pp. 320 ff.; Alfred Barratt: 'Physical Ethic' and 'Physical
Metempiric,' _passim_; J. Soury: 'Hylozoismus,' in 'Kosmos,' V. Jahrg.,
Heft x, p. 241; A. Main: 'Mind,' i, 292, 431, 566; ii, 129, 402; _Id._
Revue Philos., ii, 86, 88, 419; iii, 51, 502; iv, 402; F. W. Frankland:
'Mind,' vi, 116; Whittaker: 'Mind,' vi, 498 (historical); Morton
Prince: The Nature of Mind and Human Automatism (1885); A. Riehl: Der
philosophische Kriticismus, Bd. ii, Theil 2, 2ter Abschnitt, 2tes Cap.
(1887). The clearest of all these Statements is, as far as it goes,
that of Prince.
[175] "Someone might say that although it is true that neither a blind
man nor a deaf man by himself can compare sounds with colors, yet since
one hears and the other sees they might do so both together.... But
whether they are apart or close together makes no difference; not even
if they permanently keep house together; no, not if they were Siamese
twins, or more than Siamese twins, and were inseparably grown together,
would it make the assumption any more possible. Only when sound and
color are represented in the same reality is it thinkable that they
should be compared." (Brentano: Psychologie, p. 209.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account