William James

William James (January 11, 1842, New York–August 26, 1910, Chocorua, New Hampshire) was a pioneering psychologist and philosopher. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism.

Theory of Emotion

James is one of the two namesakes of the James-Lange theory of emotion, which he formulated independently of Carl Lange in the 1880s. The theory holds that emotion is the mind's perception of physiological conditions that result from some stimulus. In James' oft-cited example; it is not that we see a bear, fear it, and run. We see a bear and run, consequently we fear the bear. Our mind's perception of the higher adrenaline level, heartbeat, etc., is the emotion.

Related Topics:
James-Lange theory - Emotion - Carl Lange - 1880s - Perception

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This way of thinking about emotion has great consequences for the philosophy of aesthetics. Here is a passage from his great work, Principles of Psychology, that spells out those consequences.

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e must immediately insist that aesthetic emotion, pure and

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simple, the pleasure given us by certain lines and masses, and

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combinations of colors and sounds, is an absolutely sensational

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experience, an optical or auricular feeling that is primary, and not

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due to the repercussion backwards of other sensations elsewhere

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consecutively aroused. To this simple primary and immediate pleasure

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in certain pure sensations and harmonious combinations of them, there

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may, it is true, be added secondary pleasures; and in the practical

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enjoyment of works of art by the masses of mankind these secondary

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pleasures play a great part. The more classic one's taste is,

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however, the less relatively important are the secondary pleasures

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felt to be, in comparison with those of the primary sensation as it

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comes in. Classicism and romanticism have their battles over this

Related Topics:
Classicism - Romanticism

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point. Complex suggestiveness, the awakening of vistas of memory and

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association, and the stirring of our flesh with picturesque mystery

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and gloom, make a work of art romantic. The classic taste brands

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these effects as coarse and tawdry, and prefers the naked beauty of

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the optical and auditory sensations, unadorned with frippery or

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foliage. To the romantic mind, on the contrary, the immediate beauty

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of these sensations seems dry and thin. I am of course not discussing

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which view is right, but only showing that the discrimination between

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the primary feeling of beauty, as a pure incoming sensible quality,

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and the secondary emotions which are grafted thereupon, is one that

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must be made.

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