The Project Gutenberg EBook of Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To
Students On Some Of Life's Ideals, by William James

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals

Author: William James

Release Date: July 13, 2005 [EBook #16287]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALKS TO TEACHERS ***

Produced by David Newman, Dave Macfarlane and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

#TALKS TO TEACHERS#

ON PSYCHOLOGY: AND TO
STUDENTS ON SOME OF LIFE'S
IDEALS, By WILLIAM JAMES

#NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY#
#1925#

#COPYRIGHT, 1899, 1900#
#BY WILLIAM JAMES#

#PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS CO. (INC.) BOSTON#

PREFACE.

In 1892 I was asked by the Harvard Corporation to give a few public
lectures on psychology to the Cambridge teachers. The talks now printed
form the substance of that course, which has since then been delivered
at various places to various teacher-audiences. I have found by
experience that what my hearers seem least to relish is analytical
technicality, and what they most care for is concrete practical
application. So I have gradually weeded out the former, and left the
latter unreduced; and now, that I have at last written out the lectures,
they contain a minimum of what is deemed 'scientific' in psychology, and
are practical and popular in the extreme.

Some of my colleagues may possibly shake their heads at this; but in
taking my cue from what has seemed to me to be the feeling of the
audiences I believe that I am shaping my book so as to satisfy the more
genuine public need.

Teachers, of course, will miss the minute divisions, subdivisions, and
definitions, the lettered and numbered headings, the variations of type,
and all the other mechanical artifices on which they are accustomed to
prop their minds. But my main desire has been to make them conceive,
and, if possible, reproduce sympathetically in their imagination, the
mental life of their pupil as the sort of active unity which he himself
feels it to be. _He_ doesn't chop himself into distinct processes and
compartments; and it would have frustra