From "the Stream Of Thought" To "pure Experience"

William James, no matter what he was referred as, a psychologist, a scientist of religion, or a philosopher, the phenomenon of human consciousness was always the core of his theoretical preference. His first try of reflecting on human consciousness systematically germinated in his remarkable work, The Principles of Psychology, and matured in his Radical Empiricism, between the two ends, his lectures on religious experiences made a significant midpoint of the arduous progress. We can take them as three phrases over which William James stepped to his own conclusion of human consciousness, and they illuminated the change of William James'attitude towards consciousness. Only though taking the"pure experience"as the background, can we launch a valid investigation on the change. This dissertation, in order to expound the revolutionary nature and vitality of William James'theory of consciousness, develops such a investigation in accordance with the clue from"the stream of thought"to the"religious experience"and further to the"pure experience"in five chapters.Chapter One is mainly about the"problems and thinking". In the first place, we proclaim the theory of consciousness as the core of William James'thoughts, and discuss the different understandings and misunderstandings in later age of his theory, and demonstrate the purpose of this dissertation.Chapter Two focuses on"consciousness as'the stream of thought'". Primarily based on William James'The principles of Psychology, we probed in his theory of consciousness in psychology field, including the methods and fallacies of consciousness study, the relations between consciousness and things and human body,"the stream of thought"and his accounts about"consciousness of self". Through explaining the characters of the stream of thought, he put forward his critiques on those unacceptable theories of consciousness,such as"Simple Ideas","Mind-stuff Theory", and"Automation-Theory".In The Principles of Psychology, William James explicitly held an attitude of Dualism when dealt with problems of consciousness. In the preface of his book, he took three facts for granted as following: thoughts and feelings, a physical word coexists with the former two, the former knows the latter. But we can not simply view him as a dualist just by this far, because he went further, in the very same preface, to warn that this point of view was anything but ultimate. So the Dualism was nothing but an expedient before he clarify his thinking, and he had to accept the"thought"(consciousness)as"knowing"and the"object"as"known". He presented three methods for the exploration of consciousness: the Introspective Observation, the Experimental Method, and the Comparative Method. William James illustrated the introspective observation in great details. On the one hand, he preserved it as the first method that the exploration of consciousness can rely on; on the other hand, he pointed out the source of inaccuracy lay in the reflection on its direct acquisition, which bore a far-reaching purport: James finally got rid of reflection in his introspective observation and gained the"pure experience".Through introspective observation, William James noticed five important characters of the stream of thought: personal form, constant change, sensible continuity, function of knowing, and selective preference. These five characters were also indicated in William James'description of"religious experience"and"pure experience"but with some change in the function of knowing, ------in religious experience, there is no Object Known outside; in pure experience, knowing is not function at all but a relation between two pure experience.Since consciousness tends to be in personal form, one key to decode the phenomenon of consciousness is to decode the relation between the"mind"and the"body"on the level of individuals, to see in what way the consciousness manifests itself out of brain activities and in what way the former stirs the latter. William James tried in both the two ways. He did not give unambiguous explanations or precise arguments, for the one aspect of the relation, but he asserted a identity of puzzle between the"mind"and the"body"; for the other aspect of the relation, William James proved the dynamic effect the mind exerts on the body with testimonies of common sense and the evolutionary law. Since consciousness tends to be in personal form, the other key to decode the phenomenon of consciousness is to decode the mystery of"the consciousness of self". William James divided"the consciousness of self"into two parts: the Empirical Self, and the Pure Ego. The former is the object to the latter. James'statements of the Empirical self helped"I"reach out of"my body", or, in other words, bring the world into"my body", and then the whole world became an entirety without any crevice by way of my Empirical Self.Chapter Three deals with"consciousness as religious experience". In accordance with the investigation on William James'description of religious experience, we analyze the development of his theory of consciousness in religious field, and go further to see, on the one hand, William James'descriptions of"the stream of thought"and religious experience are in a great agreement with each other; on the other hand, his critiques on traditional Rationalism is a propellant for his move towards"Radical Empiricism".The identity of the world and"I"was more evident in William James'"religious experience". As the stream of thought, consciousness had an object outside; as religious experience, consciousness had no extrinsic object at all, its objects were all in it. The typical state of religious experience is"mystical states", whose object was"sacred object", or those were named as God and the like. These beings, however, were no ontologically beings at all in the eyes of natural science. On the contrary, they are beings-beyond-dispute of irreplaceable value in our religious experience. When in"mystical states","I"was with the"sacred object"and the world was in between;"I"had a share of the power of"sacred object", and the supreme ideal power hoisted"I"to its own level,"I"blended in it and made a integration, the world wad in"I".The two characters of consciousness, personal form and constant change, were fully performed in"mystical states": it can be comprehended by no one else but the"experiencer"himself at no other time but the time it happens, and it will be lessened in any successive recollections or report by others. For this depletion, our modes of thinking and language system are to blame, once we try to describe it, we describe it with concepts and relations. By repudiating the Rationalism operation of"religious experience", William James made one more step forward; he was getting close to his"pure experience".Chapter Four is"consciousness as'pure experience'". This chapter is primarily about the"Radical Empiricism"and its key concept"pure experience", which are the ultimate achievements of William James'exploration. According to William James'argumentation, we can gain"pure experience"if we stop the reflection on"experience". Although he could not get rid of the language system of Dualism, he created the na?f concept"pure consciousness"as the core of his"radical empiricism"."Pure experience"is the original material of our world, it is neither subjective nor objective, it nothing but an indistinct and immediate"this". Every immediate"this"is a"pure experience", and there are relations between or among different"pure experiences". They are given different nature in their relation structure, consciousness and substance, two opposite worlds. William James went on to emphasize that the relations between or among"pure experiences"are"pure experience"in themselves. Therefore, the whole world is a world of"pure experiences", any two remote and seemingly irrelevant parts can merge together through other"pure experiences". The world and"I"are an inseparable"one". By raising"pure experience", William James abandoned"consciousness-as-substance"once and for all; the function of"consciousness"was executed by"pure experience".William James'elaboration on the relations of"pure experience"laid the foundation for his view of truth in his Pragmatism. The world we are living in is a world of"pure experience". Both"consciousness"and"substance"are consequences of reflection on the originally identical"pure experience", so there is no transcendental object; cognition is nothing but relation between or among"pure experiences", since the stream of"pure experiences"is constantly change and selective and they welcome some and refuse the others, so there is no Transcendental Absolute Truth.Seeing along this clue, we are going smoothly to say, at the stage of The Principles of Psychology, William James has a hazy impulse of metaphysics in his thought, and he was unable to make it clear. He was so responsible to his spiritual life that he temporarily laid aside the metaphysics rather than proposed it in rude and reckless manners. After having unfolded the descriptions of phenomena he sincerely observed, he turned his face to the original experiences and call for breaking away from the constraint of philosophy, seeking for the basis of truth in the world of direct experiences. Therefore, it was the observation and comprehension of religious experience that accelerated the maturation of his"pure experience". After presented"pure experience", William James smashed"consciousness"as well as"substance", and laid a foundation for identity of the world. His"philosophical life"accomplished its self-actualization.Even William James himself had to admit his"Radical Empiricism"is not a systematically complete theory, and the concept of"pure experience"is hard to comprehend. The way we try to comprehend it is the very same way we have to abstain from if we want to have it, there is a contradiction. The way William James overcame the contradiction is to"face the experience itself". Chapter Five is"summarization and conclusion". We overviewed the developing process of William James'theory of consciousness from"the stream of thought"to"pure experience"and demonstrated its revolutionary nature and vitality. Compared with theories of consciousness in traditional philosophy, William James'theory of consciousness was a revolution; regarding those came after him, his was full of vitality. More and more researchers carry out exploration in William James'thought for supports or inspirations, and propose their own definitions, Phenomenology, Humanism, and Postmodernism, and so on. But for William James, the fact once noticed, it matters little how it was named.