The Psychotherapy of William James

The celebrations honoring the centennary of the birth of William James gave opportunity for numerous scholars from varied points of view to evaluate his contribution to modern thought. When published, these addresses were in turn reviewed, so that a fairly wide public has now been stimulated to do their own evaluating. It becomes evident that no verbal monuments can hold the generous spirit of William James. Always there will be wide spaces through which it can escape.

Because James understood that the whole man is at work in forming opinions, he would recognize the bias which inevitably forms the background for the critiques. An interesting example of such bias is shown in the address by Professor Norman Cameron on “William James and Psychoanalysis” (1). Cameron admits that James showed some interest in psychoanalysis: “He was always the friend of rejected and downtrodden beliefs…. He flirted with nitrous oxide, mescal, hypnotism, faith cures, Yoga, psychoanalysis, and mental telepathy.” Such interest is excused on the basis of a “generously adventurous spirit,” and he quotes from the famous letter from James to Theodor Flournoy, “I hope that Freud and his pupils will push their ideas to their utmost limits, so that we may learn what they are. They can't fail to throw light on human nature.” Cameron then points out that James was skeptical of Freud's dream theory, and he quotes further from the letter, “I confess that he made upon me personally the impression of a man obsessed with fixed ideas. I can make nothing in my own case of his dream theories, and obviously ‘symbolism’ is a dangerous method.” To this, Cameron adds, “These criticisms are worth nothing because the dream book, which had been published nine years before the Clark lectures, was regarded by Freud throughout his life as the keystone of his psychic theories.” It is also worth noting that Freud, when he lists what he terms the “cornerstones of psychoanalytic theory,” does not mention this, but does na