Abstract

William James, one of the major founders of modern scientific psychology, spoke often about "the psychologist's fallacy." This fallacy resulted from the tendency of psychologists to confuse their analyses of subjective experience with the nature of so-called objective reality. A related, though less attended problem revolved around what I shall call "the psychologist's dilemma." Although this latter problem was shared by other psychologists at the turn of this century, I will discuss it with special reference to the thought and work of William James. I have chosen to do so partially because James's own psychological and philosophical works reflect the import and centrality of this dilemma in the history of the human sciences, and partially in recognition and honor of the one hundredth anniversary of James's two-volume masterpiece, The Principles of Psychology, which will be celebrated in 1990. As I hope will be clear, this dilemma continues to be relevant to the concerns of contemporary psychologists. 2012 APA, all rights reserved)