Do fluxo do pensamento ao eu subliminal: o desenvolvimento da consciência na psicologia de William James

Abstract

William James is a central figure in the history of psychology and philosophy. His The Principles of Psychology (1890) is highly regarded as one of the biggest works already made in the area, and the stream of thought theory is seen as the most important original contribution to the study of consciousness. After 1890, James dedicated himself to the alterated states of consciousness’ investigation, which culminated in The Varieties of Religious Experience’s (1902) publication. In this work, we find the presence of subconscious as fundamental to the comprehension of the religious phenomena. The goal of the present work, therefore, is explore in what dimension the subliminal self develops in the jamesian psychology to be able to serve as support to the religious experience’s studies. We saw that it comes up as an explanatory possibility during the psychical phenomena and altered states of consciousness investigations, since stream of consciousness theory’ could not explain.