William James, Sciences of Mind, and Anti-Imperial Discourse

An innovative approach to rethinking sciences of mind at the turn of the twenty-first century via the texts of philosopher and psychologist William James.

Bernadette M. Baker (Author)

9781107026957, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 September 2013

436 pages, 2 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm, 0.81 kg

In the past few decades, the humanities and social sciences have developed new methods of reorienting their conceptual frameworks in a 'world without frontiers'. In this book, Bernadette M. Baker offers an innovative approach to rethinking sciences of mind as they formed at the turn of the twentieth century, via the concerns that have emerged at the turn of the twenty-first. The less-visited texts of Harvard philosopher and psychologist William James provide a window into contemporary debates over principles of toleration, anti-imperial discourse and the nature of ethics. Baker revisits Jamesian approaches to the formation of scientific objects including the child mind, exceptional mental states and the ghost to explore the possibilities and limits of social scientific thought dedicated to mind development and discipline formation around the construct of the West.

1. Between the child's mind and the ghost: scientific objects and the contours of colonial authority
2. Mind over matter? Psychology of associationism, tactic of education, and anthropology of native informant/s
3. Exceptional (mental?) states: conscious/unconscious and self-regulation of the democratic citizen
4. Richard Hodgson calling: spirit-return, biopower, and the mystical
5. Rationality: always ready?

Subject Areas: Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], History of ideas [JFCX]