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The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Episode 179: William James's Psychology (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 December 2017

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Continuing on Psychology, the Briefer Course (1892), completing "The Stream of Thought" and covering the chapter on "Habit."

James thinks that psychologists focus too much on those parts of consciousness that get picked out by substantive words. He describes habit as part of a general natural pattern that things that happen once tend to create pathways for themselves in surrounding material to allow the same thing to happen again more easily. Be careful what you do, because your organism is recording all of your bad behavior and corrupting your character!

Start with part one or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL! 

End song: "Drowning Mind (feedback overload)" by AMP, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #57.

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:02.9

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0:05.6

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0:10.5

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0:14.1

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0:19.5

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0:22.4

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0:26.6

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0:30.2

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0:32.8

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0:46.6

You're listening to the partial exam in life episode 179 on William James' Psychology.

0:52.1

Part 2.

0:53.2

Last time we talked about what his basic project was and got through most of the stream of consciousness chapter.

0:59.6

So we're segueing into talk about the self.

1:02.8

Well, no, we were going to finish up this chapter, actually.

1:05.9

All right.

1:06.3

So before we actually jump to the self chapter, I mean, there's too much that's so good in this.

1:10.9

And all right, what's still great?

1:12.9

Well, to begin with, I wanted to mention this distinction between the substantive and transitive states of mind,

1:18.9

where he's sort of thinking that there's a rhythm to language.

1:22.6

It's like we're, there are flights and perchings is another metaphor he uses.

1:27.2

So there's the sentence and then there's the closure in a period.

...

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