The Psychology Book (13 page)

WE KNOW

THE MEANING OF

“CONSCIOUSNESS”

SO LONG AS NO ONE ASKS US

T

WI O

LLIA DEFIN

M JAMES (1842–1910E

) IT

40 WILLIAM JAMES

IN CONTEXT

T
he term “consciousness” is

generally used to refer to

an individual’s awareness

APPROACH

of his or her own thoughts, including

Analysis of consciousness

sensations, feelings, and memories.

BEFORE

We usually take this awareness

Consciousness…

1641
René Descartes defines

for granted, except when we are

does not appear to itself

consciousness of self in terms

having difficulties—such as trying

chopped up in bits… It is

of the ability to think.

to do something when we are

nothing jointed; it flows.

very tired. But if you focus your

1690
English philosopher

William James

thoughts on your consciousness,

and physician John Locke

you soon become aware that your

defines consciousness as

conscious experiences are constantly

“the perception of what

changing. While reading this book,

passes in a man’s own mind.”

for example, you may be reminded

1781
German philosopher

of past experiences or present

Immanuel Kant states that

discomforts that interrupt your

simultaneous events are

concentration; plans for the future

naturally described. In talking of it

experienced as a “unity

may spontaneously spring to mind.

hereafter, let us call it the stream of

of consciousness.”

Thinking about your conscious

thought, of consciousness….”

experiences makes you realize

James’s famous description

AFTER

just how much your thoughts are

of the “stream... of consciousness”

1923
Max Wertheimer in

changing, and yet they seem to

is one that almost everyone can

Laws of Organization in

come together, merging and

identify with, because we all

Perceptual Forms
shows

carrying on smoothly as a whole.

experience it. Yet, at the same

how the mind actively

American psychologist William

time, James points out that it is

interprets images.

James compared these everyday

very hard to actually define: “When

experiences of consciousness to

I say every thought is part of a

1925
John B. Watson

a stream that continuously flows,

personal consciousness, ‘personal

dismisses consciousness

despite the odd interruption and

consciousness’ is one of the terms

as “neither a definite nor a

change of direction. He declared:

in question… to give an accurate

usable concept.”

“A ‘river’ or a ‘stream’ are the

account of it is the most difficult

metaphors by which it is most

of philosophic tasks.”

William James

William James was born in 1842

In 1873, James returned to

to a wealthy and influential New

Harvard, where he became a

York family, and traveled widely

professor of both philosophy

as a child, attending schools in

and psychology. He set up the

both Europe and the US. James

first experimental psychology

showed early artistic ability and

courses in the US, playing a key

initially pursued a career as a

role in establishing psychology

painter, but his growing interest

as a truly scientific discipline.

in science eventually led to him

He retired in 1907, and died

to enrol at Harvard University in

peacefully at his home in New

1861. By 1864, he had moved to

Hampshire in 1910.

Harvard Medical School, although

his studies were interrupted by

Key works

bouts of physical illness and

depression. He finally qualified

1890
The Principles of Psychology

as a physician in 1869, but never

1892
Psychology

practiced medicine.

1897
The Will to Believe

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 41

See also:
René Descartes 20–21 ■ Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ John B. Watson 66–71 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■

Fritz Perls 112–17 ■ Wolfgang Köhler 160–61 ■ Max Wertheimer 335

This “most difficult of philosophic

tasks” has a long history. The

ancient Greeks discussed the

Consciousness seems to be a

mind, but did not use the term

stream of thoughts
.

“consciousness” or any equivalent.

However, there was debate as

to whether something separate

from the body exists at all. In the

fourth century BCE, Plato made a

distinction between the soul and

These thoughts are

Each thought follows

body, but Aristotle argued that

entirely separate

one after another
…

even if there is a distinction, the

from each other…

two cannot be separated.

Early definitions

René Descartes, in the mid-17th

century, was one of the first

…and yet somehow they

philosophers to attempt to describe

combine to give us a sense of

consciousness, proposing that it

unified consciousness
.

resides in an immaterial domain

he called “the realm of thought,” in

contrast to the physical domain of

material things, which he called

“the realm of extension.” However,

the first person accredited with the

modern concept of consciousness

This is because thoughts that enter our

as an ongoing passage of individual

awareness at the same time form a
“pulse”

perceptions is the 17th-century

within the stream of consciousness.

English philosopher John Locke.

James was drawn to Locke’s idea of

passing perceptions and also to the

work of the 18th-century German

philosopher Immanuel Kant. Kant

was impressed by the way our

These pulses jolt us from

...but
continue to

experiences come together, noting

one conclusion (or
“resting

stream onward
.

place”
) to another...

that if we hear a noise and feel pain

at the same time, we typically

experience these as one event.

He called this the “unity of

consciousness,” a concept that

influenced many later philosophers,

including William James.

We know the

James felt the most important

meaning of

Our consciousness is

point about consciousness is that

“consciousness” so

constantly evolving
.

it is not a “thing” but a process—it

long as no one asks

is what the brain does to “steer a

us to define it.

nervous system grown too complex

to regulate itself.” It allows us to ❯❯

42 WILLIAM JAMES

words, take twelve men, and to

thoughts, or sensations, he believed,

each give one word. Then stand the

are unavoidably connected, like

men in a row or jam, and let each

Kant’s example of hearing a noise

think of his word as intently as he

and feeling pain at precisely the

will; nowhere will there be a

same time, because any thoughts

consciousness of the whole

that enter our awareness during the

No-one ever had a simple

sentence.” If consciousness is a

same moment of time combine to

sensation by itself:

stream of distinct thoughts, James

form a pulse, or current, within the

consciousness…

struggled to see how these combine.

stream. We may have many of

is of a teeming

As he said, “The idea of
a
plus the

these currents flowing through our

multiplicity of

idea of
b
is not identical with the

consciousness, some fast and some

objects and relations.

idea of
(a + b).
” Two thoughts added

slow. James stated that there are

William James

together cannot be made into one

even resting points, where we

idea. They are more likely to form

pause to form pictures in our

an entirely new idea. For example,

minds, which can be held and

if thought
a
is “it’s nine o’clock,”

contemplated at length. He called

and thought
b
is “the train leaves

the resting places “substantive

at 9:02,” thought
c
—“I’m going to

parts,” and the moving currents

miss my train!”—might follow.

the “transitive parts,” claiming that

reflect upon the past, present,

our thinking is constantly being

and future, to plan and adapt to

Combining thoughts

dislodged from one substantive

circumstances and so fulfill what

James concluded that the simplest

part toward another, propelled by

he believed was the prime purpose

way to understand how thoughts

the transitive parts, or current. We

of consciousness—to stay alive.

within the stream of consciousness

are, therefore, effectively “bumped”