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https://doi.org/10.22364/ilt.24.05 | 60-70 | PDF

Velga Vēvere
Dr. phil., LU Filozofijas un socioloģijas institūta vadošā pētniece, Ekonomikas un kultūras augstskolas profesore
 

Abpus sliekšņa: Viljams Džeimss par tīro pieredzi un mistiskajiem apziņas stāvokļiem 

Atslēgvārdi: Viljams Džeimss, mistiskās pieredzes fenomens, mistiskā apziņa, tīrā pieredze
 

On Both Sides of Experience: William James on Pure Experience and Mystical States of Experience

Keywords: William James, phenomenon of mystical, mystical consciousness, pure experience.

Although the nineteenth-century American psychologist and philosopher William James (1842–1910) is not traditionally considered a phenomenologist, the features of a phenomenological perspective can be found in his works. So, for example, he talks about the flow of consciousness, intentionality, retentions and protentions, fringes of consciousness, etc. His focus is precisely on the phenomenon of experience, hence, it is possible to talk about James’s phenomenology of experience, where the central concept is pure experience, which has a pre-rational nature. This raises the question of the mode of describing this experience: how to put into words what lies beyond the threshold of consciousness? To this end, James uses descriptions of mystical states of consciousness in his work “The Varieties of Religious Experience”. James had a unique conception of what should or should not be designated as “mystical”. Unlike the contemporary tendency to limit the term “mystical” to a rather narrow band of unitive states of consciousness, James saw “mystical experiences”’ as encompassing a broad and fluid spectrum of mental states, ranging from deep poetic insight, déjà vu, ghostly visitations, and psychedelic experiences to the more overtly religious ecstasies and unitive experiences. In his view, mystical states of consciousness are characterized by: (1) infallibility; (2) noetic quality; (3) transitivity; (4) passivity. The purpose of this article is to analyse how William James describes phenomenologically different mystical states in order to arrive at the conception of the mystical itself.

Uz zināmā un nezināmā robežas. Sast., zin. red. I. Kivle, R. Bičevskis. Rīga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2024. 184. lpp.