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720 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1890
Why, from Plato and Aristotle downwards, philosophers should have vied with each other in scorn of the knowledge of the particular, and in adoration of that of the general, is hard to understand, seeing that the more adorable knowledge ought to be that of more adorable things, and the things of worth are all concretes and singulars. The only value of universal characters is that they help us, by reasoning, to know new truths about individual things… In sum, therefore, the traditional universal-worship can only be called a bit of perverse sentimentalism, a philosophic “idol of the cave.”Pp. 479-480.Where James is probably most profound is in his examination of consciousness and the process of thought. Not only are we limited by our senses, but we are limited by what we have attuned our senses process. We perceive not only what we see, but what we have been trained to pre-perceive. The resulting stream of consciousness ebbs and flows with insight and understanding. Thought is not a defined package of ideas. It is murky and rages between the banks. However, it is by capturing moments from it, that we can define and discuss them:
Thought is in fact a kind of Algebra, as Berkeley long ago said, “in which, though a particular quantity be marked by each letter, yet to proceed right, it is not requisite that in every step each letter suggest to your thoughts that particular quantity it was appointed to stand for.” Mr. Lewes has developed this algebra-analogy so well that I must quote his words: “The leading characteristic of algebra is that of operation on relations. This also is the leading characteristic of Thought. Algebra cannot exist without values, nor Thought without Feelings” […] It need only be added that as the Algebrist, though the sequence of his terms is fixed by their relations rather than by their several values, must give a real value to the final one he reaches; so the thinker in words must let his concluding word or phrase be translated into its full sensible-image-value, under penalty of the thought being left unrealized and pale. Pp. 270-271.Where Plato saw the key to knowledge in geometry and forms, James finds it in algebra and motion. It’s a beautiful dichotomy.