3 - Tucker and James

Summary

This chapter explores the similarities between Abraham Tucker, who lived in the eighteenth century and outwardly appeared to be a follower of Locke, and William James, whose life spanned the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. James is one of the most famous and best loved psychologists, while Tucker has been almost completely forgotten. However, they held very similar views about the mind; and in their writing, both were superb users of telling examples. Tucker anticipated James’ view of consciousness as a stream and much more besides. He also recognised that theory and examples often stood in conflict one with the other; and James was to warn against the psychologist’s fallacy, which occurs when psychologists only notice what their theoretical concepts guide them to notice. Both James and Tucker agreed on the importance of examining concrete examples, rather than formulating abstract theories, for understanding the nature of experience.