THE MAN WHO PROVED THAT FREE WILL EXISTS: A Guide To William James

psychology is a beautiful mix of the empirical and spiritual science and soul philosophy informs biology and vice versa it makes sense that the study of the mind an object that has evaded concrete definitions since the dawn of consciousness would involve such a peculiar form of methodology this wasn't always the case as at the turn of the 19th century psychology was stuck between philosophical speculation and pure science this all changed with the work of william james the father of psychology as we know it today [Music] today's video is sponsored by endl one of the largest struggles i found over the past semester is balancing youtube with school i noticed myself getting distracted by one or the other and really lacking in any mental clarity something that's pretty important in order to be both creative and productive thankfully i found endl an environment-based non-profit app that takes everything we know about sound and combines it with cutting-edge technology the result is real-time 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famous writer henry james jr james would be educated in german and french and encouraged to take interest in other cultures and the world at large this was likely catalyzed by his family trips to europe where james would develop an interest in painting and drawing young william's passion for art was encouraged by his family as they moved in order to allow for him to take an apprenticeship under william morris hunt however he gave up after one year foreshadowing a lifetime of insecurity and doubt over what he should do with his life urged by his father to study medicine james would initially specialize in physiology and later take up study nervous systems and psychology at harvard afterwards james would study medicine in 1864. however he would take a short break in 1865 to travel up the amazon river with the harvard naturalist louis augustine famous for his work on glaciology and the megalodon sadly james would leave the trip after only eight months due to seasickness and smallpox upon his resume of study james would be stricken by a severe bout of depression worsened by his deteriorating health james decided to take some time and travel to germany where he would study at the university of berlin while there he became deeply interested in philosophy and psychology then picked up books by flint kant he felt that thinking about the mind and spirit treated his soul in 1869 shortly before he would earn his degree james visited an insane asylum as a medical student there he met an epileptic patient who appeared to him in a state of severe mental decline this led to a return to james depressive symptoms as he learned more and more about the science of the individual he became increasingly worried that determinism was the innate function of the universe seeing this patient brought forth the idea that he too could sink into such a state and that there would be no way to prevent it however in 1870 james read the french neocontinence charles renovies account of believing in his own freedom in the absence of any evidence this greatly informed james's opinion of free will and alleviated his depression [Music] william james would marry alice gibbons in 1878 and begin an illustrious career as a lecturer and professor while teaching he drew upon the works of helmholtz who wrote on the philosophy of science and perception as well as pierre jeanne who wrote about hypnotherapy dissociation and traumatic memory from this he developed the first course on scientific psychology at harvard as well as create the first psychology lab in america while teaching james earned a great reputation as a humble engaging and caring professor he had many famous students including gertrude stein w.e.b dubois and theodore roosevelt unfortunately his worsening health began to impede upon his ability to lecture while teaching in stanford james was interrupted by the great san francisco earthquake he would come to fear and early death before he could fully develop his philosophical system and so he retired in 1907. his retirement was productive as he would write three important books pragmatism a pluralistic universe and the meaning of truth despite sailing to europe for a cure to a severe cardiac pain william james would pass away from heart failure in 1910 william james is perhaps best known for elevating psychology to science while retaining its more abstract and philosophical aspects he would regard psychology as a science of mental phenomena and consciousness which are evidently difficult subjects to study nonetheless he set about establishing a theory surrounding mental processes james characterized human thinking into five general dimensions firstly it is under the ownership of a personal self or sense of self secondly it's in a constant flux and is never truly static thirdly there is nonetheless an ongoing and constant continuity fourthly it normally deals with objects that are separate from itself here james distinguishes the empirical me or the self as an object from the pure eye or subject that we call the ego and refer to as the soul one is more considerably difficult to measure than the other finally james argues that human thinking tends to take an interest in certain objects over others how do we think william james sets about mapping mental activity as followed firstly we sense something then our sensations become perceptions we then use our imagination to retrieve mental copies of past sensations and match them to our current perception finally belief is used to sense whether the idea formed in imagination is correspondent with reality james also developed a theory of emotion he suggests that many emotions are natural such as fear however we also learn certain emotions such as the desire to earn a promotion or the fear of failure he also argued against the idea that perception triggers emotional responses which then lead to bodily expressions instead he argued that perception triggers bodily expressions which then lead to emotion james work extended far past psychology and much of his thought also deals with difficult philosophical topics he would go on to reject the a priory existential truths of those such as hegel that propose a sort of rationalism in our world instead he would advocate for pragmatism which measures truth based upon the practical application of particular ideas to better define pragmatism james presents us with a common tension he assumes to be present in the minds of many intellectuals there is a tender minded approach which he defines as rationalism intellectualism and a belief in free will such a view holds open the possibility of a divine plan religious hope and the possibility of eternal truths however there is also a tough-minded approach which he defines as a mix of empiricism pessimism determinism and overall skepticism this view deals with evidence firstly even if it's uncomfortable james goes on to argue that most of us desire to hold a view that is faithful to the tough-minded approach of facts and uncomfortable truths while also remaining open to the tender minded approach how do we reconcile this tension pragmatism he believes is a worldview that solves this dilemma by assessing the world as is while also taking into account the epistemology of humans for example to believe in an absolute god is to satisfy our need to find meaning in everything however it would also devalue another apparent desire the human need to believe we are free or the authors of our destiny an absolute god under pragmatism shouldn't be entertained of course this assumes many things such as there is a supposedly universal desire to believe in free will james believes that belief under pragmatism follows under four postulates that to him are forever unknowable the existence of god the possibility of immortality free will and moral duty we must pick a side before we can undergo any pragmatic examination on the concept of morality james is heavily invested in the argument for and against free will although he argues that we cannot scientifically prove or disprove free will he nonetheless argues that we should believe in it under pragmatism james uses the example of a gruesome murder to do so the natural response to hearing that someone has been killed is a sort of regret how could such a thing happen if we are a determinist someone who believes that all is unchanging and fixed then what has happened would have happened no matter what from this we still have a sense of tragedy although it has now expanded to a metaphysical level we ask ourselves why is the world like this why does the world work towards such suffering and pain james identifies this as pessimism an awfully uncomfortable position where we feel that the universe is not how it should be but also understand that this is meant to be james suggests that the determinist could become an optimist we could simply remove regret and believe that murder is a part of a bigger plan that actually improves the world here james takes a personal stance although he notes that some determinists could take such a happy stance many of us may struggle to override such feelings of regret and guilt in fact the deterministic stance undermines our natural tragic response to murder acts of suffering are unpreventable and will happen and we will not know why such a stance renders this meaningless and so from this james commits to indeterminism and argues that believing in human freedom allows for a life of meaning on the meaningfulness of life james suggests that happiness is the motivator behind our capacity to act and endure however we must believe that life can become worth living first and then act on that belief specifically he argues that happiness that which makes life meaningful requires ideals a desire to reach them and the belief that we are making progress towards such ideals william james far removed from the contemporary dynamic approach to psychology a mix of philosophy sociology biology and cognition paved the way for the field to find empirical relevance perhaps more importantly he offers us a system of thinking intimately close to how we experience the world each and every day it's not perfect of course but reading his theories behind thinking identity and freedom are to this day striking in their ability to illustrate and articulate the complex world of existing [Music] you

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Length: 12min 28sec (748 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 22 2021