Category: Uncategorized
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Mental Darwinism
James starts his first chapter by giving us a clearer picture of his enemies. He first takes aim at the “spiritualists”, who hold the view of “scholasticism, and of common sense” that we’re something like ideal rational souls endowed with diverse mental faculties. Today we’re quite accustomed to speaking about “the faculty of memory”, or…
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Associationists vs. Spiritualists
On the Preface to “The Principles”: James seems like that beautiful-soul-of-a-friend you knew in college who was thoughtful and generous and way smarter than you, and whose relentless self deprecation would have been annoying if it wasn’t so articulate and tinged with real sadness. He knows it’s a hell of an ask to invite the…
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The Project
Hello, and welcome! Among other things, this blog is a dive into two foundational texts of modern Neuroscience: William James’ “Principles of Psychology” (1890), and Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s “Texture of the Nervous System” (Published in three volumes, from 1899-1904). I’ll fork off into other things Neuro so there’s some variety in our diet, and…
The Excitable Membrane 