The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)James, William
Philosophy
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)
James, William
Psychology
Once more take a look at the brain. We believe the brain to be an organ
whose internal equilibrium is always in a state of change,--the change
affecting every part. The pulses of change are doubtless more violent
in one place than in another, their rhythm more rapid at this time than
at that. As in a kaleidoscope revolving at a uniform rate, although
the figures are always rearranging themselves, there are instants
during which the transformation seems minute and interstitial and
almost absent, followed by others when it shoots with magical rapidity,
relatively stable forms thus alternating with forms we should not
distinguish if seen again; so in the brain the perpetual rearrangement
must result in some forms of tension lingering relatively long, whilst
others simply come and pass. But if consciousness corresponds to the
fact of rearrangement itself, why, if the rearrangement stop not,
should the consciousness ever cease? And if a lingering rearrangement
brings with it one kind of consciousness, why should not a swift
rearrangement bring another kind of consciousness as peculiar as the
rearrangement itself? The lingering consciousnesses, if of simple
objects, we call 'sensations' or 'images,' according as they are vivid
or faint; if of complex objects, we call them 'percepts' when vivid,
'concepts' or 'thoughts' when faint. For the swift consciousnesses
we have only those names of 'transitive states,' or 'feelings of
relation,' which we have used.[230] As the brain-changes are
continuous, so do all these consciousnesses melt into each other like
dissolving views. Properly they are but one protracted consciousness,
one unbroken stream.
_Feelings of Tendency._
So much for the transitive states. But there are other unnamed states
or qualities of states that are just as important and just as
cognitive as they, and just as much unrecognized by the traditional
sensationalist and intellectualist philosophies of mind. The first
fails to find them at all, the second finds their _cognitive function_,
but denies that anything in the way of _feeling_ has a share in
bringing it about. Examples will make clear what these inarticulate
psychoses, due to waxing and waning excitements of the brain, are
like.[231]
Suppose three successive persons say to us: 'Wait!' 'Hark!' 'Look!'
Our consciousness is thrown into three quite different attitudes of
expectancy, although no definite object is before it in any one of
the three cases. Leaving out different actual bodily attitudes, and
leaving out the reverberating images of the three words, which are of
course diverse, probably no one will deny the existence of a residual
conscious affection, a sense of the direction from which an impression
is about to come, although no positive impression is yet there.
Meanwhile we have no names for the psychoses in question but the names
hark, look, and wait.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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