O conceito de consciência na obra inicial de William James

Abstract

The works of William James (1842-1910) greatly impacted what was produced and discussed in psychology after him. His most famous book, The Principles of Psychology (1890/1981), marks the end of armchair psychology and the dawn of experimental psychology. It is also a large compendium of various subjects dear to psychology, and an accurate photograph of the time it was produced. However, despite the crystallization of this psychological project occur in the 1880s, the authors tend to ignore and devote themselves only to later texts. In this sense, the objective was to investigate the concept of "consciousness" in James' initial work, understanding how this concept appears in his early works (1865-1890), as well as investigate the concept of consciousness in the Principles and its coherence throughout this book. Although it has not been explicitly defined, the whole psychic life seems to be organized in function of the characteristics of consciousness presented in Stream of Thought. It has the function of organizing a naturally chaotic brain and its existence is justified by the theory of evolution. And the notion of Self seems to be tied to the personality of consciousness. Thus, a consciousness showed a basic psychic attribute in the initial work of James.