Yes, I meant MD ============================================ John W. Kulig Professor of Psychology Plymouth State College Plymouth NH 03264 ============================================
"Push not the river; it will flow of its own accord" - Polish saying. > -----Original Message----- > From: Christopher D. Green [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 3:32 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences > Subject: Re: Things you can do with a psychology degree > > John Kulig wrote: > > >Freud, yes, was an M.D. > >According to Hilgard's "Psychology in America" William James first > >studied art, them Chemistry, then entered medical school at age 22 (in > >1864 probably), took a field trip to Brazil with naturalist Louis > >Agassiz, returned to Harvard and finally got the PhD in 1869. > > > James never earned a PhD. He earned an MD. (Indeed, his "PhD Octopus" > shows that he was not particularly enamored of the PhD). It is true > that he entered Harvard to study chemistry (with his future boss, future > Harvard president Charles Eliot) but that he wasn't very good at it and > moved on to physiology fairly quickly. He went with Agassiz and a number > of others on the Brazilian expedition in 1865, but fell ill soon after > arriving and spent much of the trip recuperating in Rio. He wasn't much > impressed by the trip either, lampooning it in a hilarious cartoon > reprinted in Louis Menand's _The Metaphysical Club_. He then went to > Germany, saying he wanted to study physiology with Helmholtz and "a man > named Wundt" in Heidelberg. He never attended their courses however, > preferring the art galleries of Leipzig. Only after all that did he > return to Harvard and start studying for his medical exams (presumably > on the basis of his earlier physiology courses). > > >Then depression, which was presumably lifted after reading Renouvier's > >Deuxieme essai. This was "rational psychology" got James involved in the > free will concept - leading to his famous quip "My first act of free will > shall be to believe in free will." > > > A rather romantic notion that is makes for a pleasant narrative, but the > fact is that his depression contuinued for several months after that > journal entry. What is little-known is that James' depression became so > severe that he spent time in the Maclean Asylum outside of Boston in > early 1870. (The Maclean has never allowed the records to be seen, but > Robert Richards was able to pry the truth from a person who worked in > the archives there.) > > I remember another to the effect that the first psych lecture he ever head > was the one he himself gave at Harvard, but cannot find a source for that > one. > > > Probably technically true, given that the course was usually called > "mental philosophy" until after Wundt's physiological "revolution." > James was a member of the Chauncey Wright's metaphysical club, however, > which used Bain's mental philosophy as one of its main touchstones, and > in which Charles Sanders Peirce developed his pragmatic theory of > meaning (which James would adopt and expand some 25 years later). Oliver > Wendell Holmes Jr. was also a member. After Wright died unexpectedly in > 1875, Eliot invited James to co-teach a course in physiology. The year > after he launched his first physiological psychology course, which used > Herbert Spencer's book as it's main text, as I recall. > > Regards, > -- > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > 416-736-5115 ex. 66164 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
