William James

1. Thought is in constant change - No state once gone can reoccur & be identical with what it was before

1.1. Habit is the closest we get to constancy, but that too changes.,

2. Perception of time - Knowledge is mixed with past & present

2.1. Continuity of conscious

3. Theory of Emotions James challenges the implied chain process of emotion and bodily changes.

3.1. Coarser emotions - emotions that involve recognisable bodily changes

3.2. Assumed sequence of events:

3.3. 1. Some event occurs (good / bad)

3.4. 2. Individual reacts with emotion e.g. anger

3.5. 3. Individual's body responds e.g. heart races, fist clenches

3.6. William James' Suggested Sequence of events

3.7. 1. Some event occurs (good / bad)

3.8. 2. Individual's body changes e.g. heart races, fist clenched

3.9. 3. Individual notices bodily changes, feels emotion.

3.9.1. We become conscious of a situation when we're already actively engaged in it

3.9.1.1. Artificially imitated sneeze lacks something of the reality, so the attempt to imitate an emotion in the absence of its normal instigating cause is apt to be rather hollow

4. Stream of consciousness - Thought of as flow rather than chain because chain implies truncated and linear ideas, but a stream/flow of consciousness combines the past, present and future. Streams can interact with eachother

5. Radical Empiricism "To be radical, an empiricism must neither admit into its constructions any element that is not directly experienced nor exclude any element that is directly experienced"

6. Pragmatism: - The practical value of ideas is what counts - How well does an idea work in a particular situation/context.