http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1492354

Consciousness

"In the course of studies in relation to Aesthetics, undertaken many years ago, I was led to make a special study of the psychology of pleasure and pain, the results of which were published in the volume entitled Pain, Pleasure and Aesthetics. In that work there was presented for examination a theory of Algedonics which seemed more adequate to account for our pleasure-pain experiences than any I had met with in the published works of other students of the subject, and which appeared to avoid the difficulties that had heretofore availed to discredit the hedonic theory of Aesthetics. Before I was willing to present this theory for examination and criticism, I had satisfied myself that it could be related with much completeness to other psychic fields than those directly considered, and had sketched in outline a restatement of psychological doctrine which seemed to bring all related psychic facts into harmony with the theory I defended. This sketch of a systematic Psychology was completed in July, 1891, and corresponds in its main lines with the matter presented in the Second Book of this work. During the intervening years I have endeavored, in all my psychological studies, to test the validity of the general scheme then outlined; and having found that my conceptions of mental life have been materially clarified by its use, it has seemed worth while to put it in such shape that any value it may have may be tested by other workers in the same field. Book III, in which I treat of the nature of the Self has been developed in connection with this attempt to make a systematic analysis of our mental states: but the thesis as to the nature of the Self, although developed later, has become an important component part of the whole as here presented. In a work which aims to cover ground that has been the subject of thought of many masters, the reader will not be surprised to find much that is far from new; but he will pardon this when he notes that my aim is to present for his consideration not so much an array of newly discovered facts, but rather a special manner of viewing Consciousness as a whole, by which, it appears to me, we are enabled to treat the problems of Psychology in a more scientific and orderly manner than is possible from the points of view usually taken. I am not concerned to quarrel with one who would honor me by calling me a metaphysician in disguise: but I may say that while I of course consider the metaphysical problems to be of the very highest importance, I look upon them as problems which deal with complex conceptual systems; which conceptual systems are emphatic parts of my consciousness when I turn to their consideration. It is my aim to enquire into the nature of the consciousness in which these metaphysical conceptual systems appear. And although I agree that such an enquiry must bring forward considerations which will have their influence upon the statement, and possible solution, of these metaphysical problems; still I hold it to be proper to aim to waive these problems in the effort to gain a clearer insight into the nature of consciousness, as part of which they appear"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

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