Abstract

This dissertation focuses on William James's construction of the Self within himself and his thought. Utilizing the methodological tools of psychobiography the work charts the sources for the construction of the Self within James's own family as well as his socio-cultural contexts. ;James's life and thought is viewed as a paradigm of American culture, exemplifying a motif of Seeing and Not Seeing which is supportive of a basic split within the Self. This split is identified in James's work as the healthy-minded and sick-soul orientations. By splitting, the Self is able to ward off fears and anxieties regarding what it considers unacceptable parts. ;William James did not simply accept this division within himself, but actively sought to overcome it. This study suggests that his life long goal was directed toward the healing of this division through a process of reparation which includes the acceptance of the rejected and split off parts of the self into a whole. His struggles with his father serve as a model of his dealing with love and rage toward the same person resulting in his own sense of a divided self. The love and care which he took toward his father's literary remains provide evidence for his reparative efforts toward accepting and understanding love and rage toward the same person. ;His relationship with W. E. B. DuBois, an African American who first became his student at Harvard University and subsequently a life long friend, is examined to show the parallel influence the two had on each other. James was able through his relationship with DuBois to create an in-between-space which enabled him to see more than his contemporaries in regards to the race question. The relationship with DuBois serves as a paradigm of the motif of Seeing and Not Seeing. ;The psychoanalytic theory of Melanie Klein is employed in a limited and selected way to provide insight into the origins of splitting within the Self and to illuminate the efforts toward reparation