William James on Mind and Brain

William James on Mind and Brain

In chapter VI of The Principles of Psychology William James writes: “The ultimate of ultimate problems, of course, in the study of the relations of thought and brain, is to understand why and how such disparate things are connected at all. But before that problem is solved (if it ever is solved) there is a less ultimate problem that must first be settled” (177). This is finding the “minimal mental fact whose being reposes directly on a brain-fact”. He concludes the chapter with these words: “nature in her unfathomable designs has mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things hang indubitably together and determine each other’s being, but how or why, no mortal may ever know” (182). To the modern-day mysterian such as myself these words have a remarkable prescience. First, James has hit upon the metaphor of a flame to capture the nature of consciousness, contrasting this with the clay of the brain—how does fire spring from clay? (My book is called The Mysterious Flame.) Second, he is more than willing to entertain the hypothesis that the mystery is irremediable: no “mortal” (aka human) may ever know, though a superior intellectual being might be able to resolve the mystery. If only he had seen that this carries no implications about the naturalness of the elusive connection! No compromise with ontological rationalism needs to be contemplated. No spirit, no soul, no divine intervention. Still, I am impressed.