A concepção de psicologia na obra inicial de William James

Abstract

William James's conception of psychology (1842-1910) has not yet been adequately addressed both in the context of the historiography of psychology in general and in the author's authoritative literature. Our objective in this paper is to clarify this subject, particularly about an apparent inconsistency between two attitudes of the author, the first of them positivist, based on cerebralism and which considered classical psychological themes; And the second more inclusive, which advocated the addition of new phenomena in the domain of psychology and accepting metaphysical implications of exceptional phenomena. We argue that these two attitudes are part of the development of James' psychology and reflect their efforts both to consolidate this new science and to expand its scope.