The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)James, William
Philosophy
The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2)
James, William
Psychology
Now let the vertical dimensions of the figure stand for the objects
or contents of the thoughts. A line vertical to any point of the
horizontal, as _1-1'_, will then symbolize the object in the mind
at the instant 1; a space above the horizontal, as 1-1'-2'-2, will
symbolize all that passes through the mind during the time 1-2 whose
line it covers. The entire diagram from 0 to 0' represents a finite
length of thought's stream.
Can we now define the psychic constitution of each vertical section of
this segment? We can, though in a very rough way. Immediately after
0, even before we have opened our mouths to speak, the entire thought
is present to our mind in the form of an intention to utter that
sentence. This intention, though it has no simple name, and though it
is a transitive state immediately displaced by the first word, is yet
a perfectly determinate phase of thought, unlike anything else (see p.
253). Again, immediately before 0', after the last word of the sentence
is spoken, all will admit that we again think its entire content as
we inwardly realize its completed deliverance. All vertical sections
made through any other parts of the diagram will be respectively filled
with other ways of feeling the sentence's meaning. Through 2, for
example, the cards will be the part of the object most emphatically
present to the mind; through 4, the table. The stream is made higher
in the drawing at its end than at its beginning, because the final way
of feeling the content is fuller and richer than the initial way. As
Joubert says, "we only know just what we meant to say, after we have
said it." And as M. V. Egger remarks, "before speaking, one barely
knows what one intends to say, but afterwards one is filled with
admiration and surprise at having said and thought it so well."
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