lessons on the ph.d. from william james

the PhD Octopus

I have always admired new immigrants, people willing to give it all up and try for a better life on another land. What always amused me in history was that after the trail was blazed, civilized and made safe; then others followed bringing with them their bureaucratic class ideals and ineffectual old fashioned ways. In fact, the later wave brought with them those same values that the original settlers found so repugnant and desired escape.

In a marvelous book that I was fortunate to acquire by William James, America’s eminent Psychologist of the last century, entitled  ‘Memories and Studies’ (1911) published a couple years after his death, James was concerned that we were adapting some of the failed ways of thinking that handicapped much of Europe at the time. Ironically, it does seem like we are facing the same challenge again today. I have linked the entire essay on the photo above. Here are a few of his observations.

“…whatever evolution our state-examinations are destined to undergo, our universities at least should never cease to regard themselves as the jealous custodians of personal and spiritual spontaneity. They are indeed its only organized and recognized custodians in America to-day. They ought to guard against contributing to the increase of officialism and snobbery and insincerity as against a pestilence; they ought to keep truth and disinterested labor always in the foreground, treat degrees as secondary incidents, and in season and out of season make it plain that what they live for is to help men’s souls, and not to decorate their persons with diplomas.”

“It is indeed odd to see this love of titles — and such titles — growing up in a country of which the recognition of individuality and bare manhood have so long been supposed to be the very soul. The independence of the State, in which most of our colleges stand, relieves us of those more odious forms of academic politics which continental European countries present.”

“But are we Americans ourselves destined after all to hunger after similar vanities on an infinitely more contemptible scale? And is individuality with us also going to count for nothing unless stamped and licensed and authenticated by some title-giving machine? Let us pray that our ancient national genius may long preserve vitality enough to guard us from a future so unmanly and so unbeautiful!”

Genius is obvious to all who see it; however, it needs development and encouragement.  food for thought.

Roger Freberg

immortality in a mousepad

immortality in a mousepad
Laura, do you now feel 'immortalized'? 😉

What really is immortality? This is a wonderful question pondered by many great minds over the millennium and although some prefer to shrug the suggestion, others find solace, hope and comfort.

Historically, immortality was an expression of a religious belief. Scientific writings as late as the early 1800’s often began with an expression of how their work was not religious blasphemy, but was, in truth, another expression of the miracles around us.

The American Psychologist  William James was someone who wrestled with concepts that often had a foothold in two worlds: scientific (psychological/philosophical) and religious. Conflicting perspectives weren’t unusual at the turn of the century (1900’s) as the theory of evolution was finding both acceptance and resistance. Scientific exploration was continuing to explode and a dichotomy between what we thought we knew and what science was beginning to theorize came in sharp contrast. In a final funny quip, William James concludes one of his seminal works with the following about salvation (immortality):

“For practical life at any rate, the chance of salvation is enough. No fact in human nature is more characteristic than its willingness to live on a chance. The existence of a chance makes the difference, as  Edmund Gurney says, between a life of which the keynote is resignation and a life of which the keynote is hope. But all these statement are unsatisfactory from their brevity, and I can only say that I hope to return to the same question in another book.”

William James ( page 526-527, “The Varieties of Religious Experiences”, 1903)

The ancient Egyptians believed that a person lived on simply by mentioning their name and they certainly carved the name of their pharaohs into every pillar and wall lest we forget. However, I think real ‘immortality’ is simply being remembered by those important to you.

So, this goes a long way to say that I created a little bit of ‘immortality’ for Laura… a mouse pad with a picture of her and her new book. Laura, do you feel ‘immortalized?’  😉

Roger

my mona lisa smile immortalized

My Mona Lisa Smile
My Mona Lisa Smile

When Laura and her editor wanted a picture of me for their book… I took a big gulp. I mean this is a textbook on Discovering Biological Psychology. This is interesting stuff… some of it is strange… interesting ,but strange, and I wondered where I was going to fit in all of this?

I guess I deserved a little uneasiness as it is a bit of payback. I will rush to her from the kitchen with those words that instill concern, “…taste this!” She’ll always look as though I am offering her something weird like ‘fresh tentacles in licorice sauce’… but then, she always smiles.

Well, like most people ( unless you are Brad Pitt )… I smile more on one side of my face than the other. So, Laura took a picture of me and created three faces… the real me, one face with two left sides (the left side was mirrored onto the right) and the last having two right sides. What resulted was  the three bears: a smiley bear, a medium bear and a reserved bear.

Good luck Laura, your book looks wonderful!

Roger Freberg