Pioneers of Transpersonal Psychology Transpersonal Psychology Pioneers

William James
Biography
William James about 1862.

William James was born in New York City on January 11, 1842 to a family that was both affluent and deeply religious.  His father, Henry, was well connected to the literary and philosophical pioneers of the day including:  Robert Sandeman, a Scottish minister, Charles Fourier, a French sociologist, Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish mystic, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American transcendentalist (Taylor, 1996, p. 22).  William and his siblings received their education among visits to museums, the theater, lectures, and various prestigious schools throughout New England and Europe.  Although he primarily studied science and mathematics, young William James had an enthusiasm for art and at seventeen wanted to become a painter, to his fatherís discouragement, and so sought an education and career in the sciences and philosophy (Chronology, n.d.).

William James began his studies at Harvard during the Civil War, unable to enlist because of health reasons.  James suffered from neurastheniaóa term originating in the 19th century for a neurotic condition marked by fatigue, debility, insomnia, aches, and pains (Corsini, 2002, p.638)--, digestive disorders, and severe depression that brought with in thoughts of suicide (Chronology, n.d.).  He would continue to suffer bouts of ill health and emotional crises throughout his lifetime.  Following his frequent breaks from formal academic studies, during which he spent a year traveling in the Amazon with Harvard naturalist Louis Agassiz, William James earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1869.  Due to his ill health, he made no attempt to practice medicine upon graduation, but instead spent his time studying psychology.  It was also at this time that he suffered a prolonged bout of depression, which he later described as a descent into a profound crisis of spirituality, of being, of meaning, and of will.  He used only his journal writing and his reading to address his mental anguish.  ěHe recorded in his journal that, after reading an essay by Charles Renouvier, he had come to believe that free will was no illusion and that he could use his will to alter his mental stateî (Chronology, n.d.).  Clearly, this was the beginning of his interest in various levels of consciousness.

At age thirty, William James was asked to teach physiology at Harvard, and thus began a long a prestigious career as a teacher, orator, thinker and writer.  In 1875, James taught the first course ever to be taught in physiological psychology in an American university.  For the next decade plus, James worked to bring psychology out of abstract philosophy and into physiological science experimenting and writing on topics such as:  emotions, perception, cognition, reflexes, phantom limb phenomena, and the sensation of space (Taylor, 1996, p. 22).  This work led to his publication of The Principles of Psychology (1890), a two volume set that was renowned for its literature quality, that of a confessional tale, but was criticized by psychologists like Wilhelm Wundt who called it beautiful, but not psychology (Chronology, n.d.). 

In the twelve years it took to write The Principles of Psychology William James became interested in the existence of subconscious processes and was instrumental in the founding of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1884.  Here research was conducted into alleged supernatural phenomena, and investigations into trance states of mediums confirmed the existence of subconscious processes already being described by Jean Martin Charcot, Alfred Binet, Peirre Janet, and Hippolyte Bernheim in France (Tayor, 1996, p. 23).  It was research like this that led to the formation of the image of consciousness as a stream; stating in The Principles of Psychology that psychology was the scientific study of mental states through which thoughts were warmed by emotion and moved through consciousness like a giant river(Taylor, 1996, p.23).  Arguing that psychology must recognize the soul, James advanced the concept of a pluralistic self:  the biological self, the material self, the social self, and the spiritual self.  James argued ěÖthat consciousness involved many different states, including hidden dimensions, both pathological and spiritual.î (Taylor, 1996, p. 24).  The classic work, Principles, has provided a model for our present day study of transpersonal psychology.

Photographic portrait - shortly after publication of Principles - early 1890s.

By 1893, European experimental psychology, lead by Wundt, was the dominant force in American psychology.  Its emphasis on the objective analysis of observed human behavior William James found intellectually indigestible in comparison to his view of psychology as an introspective process of analysis (Chronology, n.d.).  He spent his life as an activist in service to his belief in the healing power of introspection:  writing on such topics as hypnotism, hysteria, dreams, multiple personality, witchcraft, demonical possession, and genius, as well as, opening himself up to other ways of knowing beyond the western conceptions of consciousness and personality:  Vedanta philosophy, Theravada Buddhism, and Japanese philosophy, influencing D. T. Suzuki with his ideas on pragmatism (Taylor, 1996, p.24). 

During the close of the century, James published The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897), a book reflecting his growing spiritual concerns and philosophical inquiries.  These essays were on topics such as the intellectual and emotional risks of religious belief and the accomplishments of psychical research, summing up the issues that concerned William James throughout the first twenty years of his professional career, and introducing the foundation for his later works on pragmatism, pluralism, and functionalism which emphasized the interactive nature of mind and body and the dynamic quality of consciousness which he believed makes it possible for humans to engage in self-regulation (Chronology, n.d.). 

Again suffering ill heath from a heart condition, he took a two year sabbatical in Europe where his interest in spirituality deepened, culminating in the writing and delivery of the Gifford lecturesóthe analysis of mystical experiences.  These lectures would find their home in his next book, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902).  Here, James presented three important themes:  1.)  Religion lies within the individual, within his or her own experience; 2.)  Exploration of the subconscious is the doorway to transforming experiences, the emphasis being self-exploration; and, 3.)  The truths of mystical experiences could be measured only in terms of their results, the increase of moral and aesthetic quality of daily life (Taylor, 1996, p.25).  Calling himself a ěpiecemeal supernaturalist,î William James admitted to finding no intellectual difficulty in mixing the real and the ideal worlds together, and set about the task of locating those places where the ideal forced its way into the real world and caused human experiences of prayer, visions, and epiphanies, each of which he understood as a catalyst for generating faith (Chronology, n.d.).

                                                            Circa 1905.

In 1905, the word transpersonal first appeared in the English language on the syllabus of one of William Jamesí Harvard courses.  In its beginning stages, ětrans-personalî was Jamesí way of describing the experience of two people seeing the same object.  He included in his concept of transpersonal the inherent relationship between subject and object, explaining that all objects are dependent on being perceived by a subject.  This idea he later developed into a metaphysical critique of experimentalism in psychology, which later became his radical empiricism.  James insisted that psychology must include the exploration of raw human experiences in all manifestations (Taylor, 1996, p.26).

In addition to being recognized as the father of American psychology, William James is also acknowledged as the father of American pragmatism.  His book, Pragmatism:  A New Name for Old Ways of Thinking (1907), outlined his definition of pragmatism, stating that the observer, thinker, and seeker of truth, was necessarily implicated in the process of inquiry and experimentation, giving each individual the authority to determine truths over abstract concepts (Chronology, n.d.).  With the growing power of behaviorism in psychology, William Jamesí work drew less interest from psychologists, but continued to influence people like W.E.B DuBois, Helen Keller, and Gertrude Stein.  Later, his work influenced Gordon Allport, Henry A. Murray, Gardener Murphy, and others (Taylor, 1996, p.26).  Over a century later, the work of William James continues to influence us today.

In my view, William James embodies the Wounded Healer (Halifax, 1982).  Having suffered both physically and emotionally throughout his life, he had access to a variety of consciousness realms that open to one during crisis through the engagement of inner journeying, what James referred to as introspection.  For all shamans, the inner journey of turmoil and distress brings with it a transpersonal language, which recounts the intimate details of psychic experience, and it is these experiences that must be orated and taught to others.  In the brief time I have spent researching William James, I have seen that his work was that of a 19th century shaman, making his presence known among his European peoples at a time when the human spirit was falling victim to microscopic psychology. 

      On August 26th 1910, William James died of an enlarged heart.

References

Corsini, R.  (2002).  The dictionary of psychology.  New York:  Brunner-Routledge.

Halifax, J.  (1982).  Shaman:  the wounded healer.  London:  Thames and Hudson Ltd.

James, W.  (1890/1981).  The principles of psychology.  Cambridge, MA:  Harvard             University Press.

James, W.  (1897/1979).  The will to believe and other essays in popular philosophy.               Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press.

James, W.  (1907/1979).  Pragmatism:  A new name for old ways of thinking.              Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press.

Taylor, E.  (1996).  William James and transpersonal psychiatry.  In B. Scotten, A.             Chinen, & J. Battista (Eds.),  Textbook of transpersonal psychiatry and             psychology,  pp.  21-28.  New York:  Basic Books.

William James. (n.d.).  Chronology and photographs of William James.  Retrieved on October 24, 2003, from www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/james.html

 

 Works by William James

  • The Works of William James, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 17 vol., 1975--.
  • William James: Writings 1878-1899. New York: Library of America, 1992.
  • William James: Writings 1902-1910. New York: Library of America, 1987
  • "Remarks on Spencer's Definition of Mind as Correspondence," first published in The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 1878. Contained in Essays in Philosophy, pp. 7-22.
  • The Principles of Psychology, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. Originally published in 1890 [PP].
  • The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1979; first published in 1897 [WB].
  • "Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results," 1898. Contained in Pragmatism, in The Works of William James, pp. 255-70.
  • Pragmatism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979. Originally published in 1907 [P].
  • A Pluralistic Universe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. Originally published in 1909 [PU].
  • The Meaning of Truth, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1979 [MT]. Originally published in 1909.
  • Essays in Philosophy. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1978 [E].
  • Some Problems of Philosophy. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1979. Originally published in 1911.
  • The Letters of William James, ed. Henry James, Boston: Little Brown, 1926.
  • The Correspondence of William James, ed. Ignas K. Skrupskelis and Elizabeth M. Berkeley, 12 volumes. Charlottesville and London, University Press of Virginia, 1992--. (Volumes 1-3, William and Henry; Volume 4 1856-77.)
  • Selected Letters of William and Henry James, Charlottesville and London, University Press of Virginia, 1997.

Selected Writings on James

  • Barzun, Jacques, A Stroll with William James.  New York: Harper and Row, 1983.
  • Bird, Graham, William James (The Arguments of the Philosophers). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986.
  • Edie, James, William James and Phenomenology, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1987.
  • Feinstein, Howard M., Becoming William James.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1984.
  • Fontinell, Eugene, Self, God, and Immortality: A Jamesian Investigation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986.
  • Gale, Richard M., The Divided Self of William James, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  • Goodman, Russell B., American Philosophy and the Romantic Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, Chapter 3.
  • -------------. Wittgenstein and William James. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
  • Levinson, Henry S., The Religious Investigations of William James. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981.
  • Matthiessen, F. O., The James Family. New York: Knopf, 1947.
  • McDermott, John, Streams of Experience: Reflections on the History and Philosophy of American Culture. Amherst:  University of Massachusetts Press, 1986.
  • Moore, G. E., "William James' ëPragmatismí", in Philosophical Studies, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1922, pp. 138.
  • Myers, Gerald, William James: His Life and Thought. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.
  • Perry, Ralph Barton, The Thought and Character of William James. Boston: Little, Brown, 1935, 2 vols.
  • Poirier, Richard, Poetry and Pragmatism.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
  • Putnam, Hilary, The Many Faces of Realism. La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1987.
  • -------------, (with Ruth Anna Putnam), "William James's Ideas," in Putnam, Hilary, Realism with a Human Face (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990, pp. 217-231.
  • Putnam, Ruth Anna, The Cambridge Companion to William James. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Russell, B., The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 6, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1986, pp. 257-306.
  • Simon, Linda, Genuine Reality: a life of William James , New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998.
  • Seigfried, Charlene Haddock, Chaos and Context. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1978.
  • ----------, William James's Radical Reconstruction of Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990.
  • Sprigge, T. L. S., James and Bradley: American Truth and British Reality. Chicago: Open Court, 1993.
  • Suckiel, Ellen Kappy, The Pragmatic Philosophy of William James, Notre Dame, IN and London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982.
  • ----------, Heaven's Champion. Notre Dame, IN and London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996.
  • Taylor, Eugene, William James on Consciousness Beyond the Fringe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.
  • Wilshire, Bruce, William James and Phenomenology: A Study of "The Principles of Psychology". New York: AMS Press, 1979.

 

Some Internet Resources

www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/james.html

Links to other information about William James