PSYCH 4150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Top, Reductionism, Wilhelm Wundt
Document Summary
Now it is very difficult, introspectively, to see the transitive parts for what they really are. The rush of the thought is so headlong that it almost always brings us up at the conclusion before we can rest it. Or if our purpose is nimble enough and we do arrest it, it ceases forthwith to itself. The attempt at introspective analysis in these cases is in fact like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see how the darkness looks . [william james, 1890] What does this mean: rich mental experience, up to this point, we have studied consciousness by taking this broad overall experience and want to nail down how we perceive sensations. James would call these the substantial parts of consciousness. Wr, 192-196: james thinks consciousness can not and should not be broken down into pieces.
