The Philosophical And Metaphysical Influences Surrounding The Foundation Of Consciousness

The concept of the looking glass self is one of the first concepts of personality psychology, sociology. It does not come from the internal characteristics of the person, but from the recognition of the crucial role of the interaction of individuals, who act in relation to each other as standing in a front of a mirror. William James, who was American philosopher and psychologist, was the first, who began to develop problems with "The self" concept. James used fixed language structures in order to distinguish different aspects of a single integrated "Self", who is the individual himself. Thus, James suggested reasonable (but still hypothetical) model

James reflected on the concept of smart power which makes him responsible for any harm he causes, he has personal power to make choices, and every choice has consequence whether good or bad.

In James's time, it was a period where one of the most corrupt presidents of the century was in power and had high authority; Georges W. Bush. This resulted in the utter absence of spirituality and lead to brainwashing peoples' minds with false values and objectives/priorities. James lived in a rural middle class occupied area near Birmingham, Alabama. Life at the time was almost much about surviving, building careers, and taking care of meaningless responsibilities, very much comparable to today. Anyhow, life was often perceived as being very difficult and to have a normal secular life was perceived as too hard because everyone was so busy with competing against each other, trying to be better than the other and thinking that's all there is

James was a talker and if you gave him a subject to talk about he would do anything to keep talking, even make up everything. He had great discourse because he was really able to talk about something forever. Now, what he is saying may not be true but he will try to tell you everything he knows about the subject. He was also very good at writing stories. He told me that when he goes home, he writes stories on his Mom’s Ipad. Since he was great at telling stories he was pretty good at pragmatics. He could have a normal back and forth conversation. James would always answer any questions you may

James appears to be using limited cross-checking behaviours. Self-correction behaviour is nil, at least in this instance. Evidence shows he is using mostly meaning and visual cues and not drawing on structural cues. As a result of not utilising all the sources of information afforded by the text his understanding and comprehension of the text is quite limited and there is no evidence he has really connected with the text. In recent years there has been much research on reading

James taught at several universities including both Brown and Yale where he often had arguments and lengthy discussions with his students about religion. In his introductory comments, he clearly states that a lot of his freethinking students did not believe one should believe in religion if it cannot be rationally proven. This was contradictory to his thoughts and consequently wrote the paper in order to try sway his students view.

James makes a point to express the influence society’s past has on the opinions of today’s people. When describing the metaphysical question James asks his reader to examine the meaning

Joseph, I like your conclusion statement and to talk a little bit more about beliefs, James retains that pure reason is certainly not the ultimate root of what people believe. The non-intelligent elements of people mind like desires partly decide what beliefs people have. People can via will evoke belief in any live hypothesis which are dead for all of us since human beings have formerly used their will in a particular manner. To me, William James does embrace, and develops a very influential argument to support his thesis, that people do not have the mental influence to will a belief to be dead/ alive. That is to say, in the conclusion, people cannot actually "choose" their beliefs just as people desire. Due to the fact that that majority

James thinks that for many of our beliefs, the evidence plays only a small part in determining what we believe. He says what determines the beliefs we have is hard to say, because we

In The Philosophy of William James there are no characters but I can relate to William James’s ideology that is presented throughout the book. The main relation I made was to his determination to find a scientific explanation of religion. On page 36 Horace M. Kalleen wrote, “Many years James struggled with the problem which this argument of science and theology opposed to his deepest feelings and most delicate sensibilities...He sought in the context of science justification for the finite individual divinities of pagan experiences and for what is alive in traditional religion.” Being an atheist, I, like James, have found it difficult to fully understand the tangibility of a God; whenever I am presented theological concepts I tend to scour my personal knowledge of the world to find a factual explanation for the concept.

The explanation of consciousness given by William James and Laura King differ greatly in their delivery and content. Beginning with James’ explanation of consciousness, he starts by explaining his definition of “self”. He goes on to explain how the body and mind are not the only constituents of the self but also one’s family, friends, residence, etc. James then discusses the “active” element of consciousness which processes the perception of sensation by granting or withholding arousal. This idea parallels the explanation of arousal given by King where she states that arousal is the second part of the conscious which regulates awareness. James then goes on to describe how the stream of conscious cannot objectively become aware of its “pure”

In order to understand the critical nature of consciousness as it relates to the physical,

William James studied pragmatism through psychology and religion. James thought originally about philosophy; “The whole function of philosophy ought to be to find out what definite difference it will make to you and me, at definite instants in our life, if this world formula or that world formula be the true one.” In James’ book The Varieties of Religious Experience he took a positive attitude toward religion yet opposed the idealist schools of speculative ideas (Choron 283). James was a very methodical man. “Truth happens to an idea” was another theory of James’. In order for an idea to be true an event

For example, William James studied religious experience and suggested that the spiritual process works to curtail people's negative behaviors (James, 1936). For James, spirituality helps individuals recognize their own earthly suffering as either a consequence of individual pathology or addictive behavior, or both. When people begin to criticize or consciously reject problematic individual behaviors as a permanent way of being, then they become open to the possibility of rising to a higher awareness. This higher awareness of his or her own behavior is then integrated as a part of the person's psychology. James was already considering the role religion plays in a person's consciousness early in the twentieth century.

Souls are the main topic exploring the myths, the beliefs, and whether are not they truly exist. The world is filled with believers and non-believers and those that do not believe the question is how do they exist? Do they survive after death and if so how is this known? Using my sources, I will give enlightenment on all of these issues. This essay is not to discredit, stomp on, or crush others beliefs it is just to explore the “if’s”, “how’s”, and “why’s”. Souls are within the beholder if you believe that they exist, then that is your answer. This essay will explore the definition of “soul”, give enlightenment on whether or not “souls” exist, and do they survive after death.