Between Free Will and Obsession with the Self:The Issue of Attention in William James'Educational Thoughts
Attention is an important concept in educational theory and practice.In the middle to late 19th century,as the subjectivity of"Cogito"was fading away,attention emerged as an alternative force to reassemeble the"apperception"of humanity.At the same time,attention was continuously psychologized and scientized,becoming the object of technological rational control.Reflexive attention,with stimulus-response as its basic function,became a major research object and theme in German experimental psychology,and entered the field of education in Europe and North America,gradually becoming the core concept of modem attention.However,American psychologist William James and other thinkers believed that separating attention into the function of stimulus-response was dehumanizing conceptualization,and proposed concepts such as"voluntary attention",asserting that attention highlights the energy and vitality of free will,with potential spaces that science cannot measure or recognize.But in a series of public lectures on psychology for teachers at Harvard University,James affirmed reflexive attention and put forward a series of viewpoints seemingly contradictory to his own doctrine.The zigzagging journey of James'thoughts on attention mirrors the intricate entanglement of psychologism with education informed by liberal humanism,it also manifests the boundaries of James'pragmatism.Following that,James made important revisions to the concept of attention,attempting to dilute the"voluntarism"color in the concept attention,dissolving the"self-assertion"of individuals and society,thus exploring an open and therapeutic philosophy of education.This study attempts to help deepen our understanding of James'thoughts,and also enrich and expand the current scholarship on the concepts of attention in the field of education.
William Jamesattentionstream of consciousnesspsychologismliberal education
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
