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William James is a central figure in the study of consciousness, having explored its nature in his seminal work 'The Principles of Psychology' [1] and defined it through concepts like attention [2]. His philosophical contributions include arguments against epiphenomenalism [3] and explorations of panpsychism to explain how consciousness fits into the universe without being a 'new nature' {fact:1, fact:6}.
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Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 4 facts
quoteWilliam James stated: "we ought … to try every possible mode of conceiving of consciousness so that it may not appear equivalent to the irruption into the universe of a new nature non-existent to then."
perspectiveWilliam James supported panpsychism, arguing that consciousness should be conceived in a way that avoids it appearing as the sudden emergence of a new nature that did not previously exist in the universe.
referenceWilliam James explored the nature of consciousness and psychology in his 1890 work 'The Principles of Psychology'.
quoteWilliam James argued that a 101st feeling created by the combination of 100 original feelings would be a totally new fact, stating: "the 100 original feelings might, by a curious physical law, be a signal for its creation, when they came together; but they would have no substantial identity with it, nor it with them, and one could never deduce the one from the others, or (in any intelligible sense) say that they evolved it."
Resolving the evolutionary paradox of consciousness link.springer.com 2 facts
perspectiveWilliam James proposed that the correlations between the valence of sensations and their fitness consequences are explainable by the action of natural selection on efficacious consciousness.
perspectiveWilliam James argued against epiphenomenalism (also known as automaton-theory), which is the metaphysical perspective that consciousness is not efficacious and does not affect the physical world.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
quoteWilliam James argued that consciousness should be conceived in a way that avoids it appearing as a 'new nature' suddenly erupting into the universe.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
quoteWilliam James argued: "we ought … to try every possible mode of conceiving of consciousness so that it may not appear equivalent to the irruption into the universe of a new nature non-existent to then."
Attention - Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science - MIT oecs.mit.edu 1 fact
quoteWilliam James described attention in 1890 as follows: "Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatterbrained state which in French is called distraction, and Zerstreutheit in German."
Dualism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2016 Edition) plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimThe debate over whether William James's position on consciousness improves upon David Hume's or merely mystifies it remains unresolved.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
referenceThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Panpsychism lists related entries including George Berkeley, consciousness, René Descartes, dualism, emergent properties, epiphenomenalism, Charles Hartshorne, William James, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, mereology, monism, neutral monism, pantheism, physicalism, qualia, quantum theory and consciousness, Josiah Royce, Baruch Spinoza, Alfred North Whitehead, and Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt.
Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 ... plato.stanford.edu 1 fact
claimAt the beginning of modern scientific psychology in the mid-nineteenth century, the mind was largely equated with consciousness, and introspective methods dominated the field, as seen in the work of Wilhelm Wundt (1897), Hermann von Helmholtz (1897), William James (1890), and Alfred Titchener (1901).
Consciousness, Physicalism, and Panpsychism - R Discovery discovery.researcher.life 1 fact
referenceThe research article titled 'Consciousness, Physicalism, and Panpsychism' (published December 30, 2020) introduces William James's philosophy of mind, specifically examining his views on panpsychism, neutral monism, and the combination problem.