View source for Stream of consciousness (psychology)


'''Stream of consciousness''' refers to the flow of [[thought]]s in the [[consciousness|conscious]] [[mind]]. The full range of thoughts that one can be [[awareness|aware]] of can form the content of this stream, not just [[internal monologue|verbal thoughts]]. Commonly used experimental techniques, including self-reporting, gives easier access to verbal thoughts than to thoughts more closely connected to senses other than hearing and activities other than speaking and writing.

==Buddhism==
The phrase "stream of consciousness" ([[Pali]]; ''viññāna-sota'') occurs in [[Pali Canon|early Buddhist scriptures]].<ref>Specifically, in the [[Digha Nikaya]]. See Steven Collins, ''Selfless Persons; Imagery and Thought in Theravāda Buddhism.'' Cambridge University Press, 1982, page 257.</ref> The [[Yogachara]] school of [[Mahayana Buddhism]] developed the idea into a thorough theory of mind.<ref>Dan Lusthaus, ''Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun.'' Routledge 2002, page 193.</ref>

[[Hammalawa Saddhatissa]] [[Theravada|Mahathera]] writes: "There is no 'self' that stands at the mentality to which characteristics and events accrue and from which they fall away, leaving it intact at death. The stream of consciousness, flowing through many lives, is as changing as a stream of water. This is the [[anatta]] doctrine of Buddhism as concerns the individual being."<ref>Hammalawa Saddhatissa, ''Buddhist Ethics.'' Wisdom Publications, 1997, page 23.</ref>

==Proponents==
In his lectures circa 1838-1839 [[Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet]] described "thought" as "a series of acts indissolubly connected"; this comes about because of what he asserted was a fourth "law of thought" known as the [[Principle of sufficient reason|"law of reason and consequent"]]:   
:"The logical significance of the law of Reason and Consequent lies in this, - That in virtue of it, thought is constituted into a series of acts all indissolubly connected; each necessarily inferring the other" (Hamilton 1860:61-62).<ref>Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet, (Henry L. Mansel and John Veitch, ed.), 1860 ''Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic, in Two Volumes. Vol. II. Logic'', Boston: Gould and Lincoln. Downloaded via googlebooks.</ref>
In this context the words "necessarily infer" are synonymous with [[logical implication|"imply"]].<ref>To imply is "to involve or indicate by inference, association or necessary consequence rather than by direct statement", the contemporary use of 'infer' is slightly different. Webster's states that Sir Thomas More (1533) was the first to use the two words "in a sense close in meaning", and "Both of these uses of ''infer'' coexisted without comment until sometime around the end of World War I". cf Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc, Springfield, MA, ISBN 0-87779-508-8.</ref> In further discussion Hamilton identified "the law" with [[modus ponens]];<ref>Hamilton 1860:241-242</ref> thus the act of "necessarily infer" detaches the consequent for purposes of becoming the (next) antecedent in a "chain" of connected inferences.

[[William James]] is given credit for the concept {{citation needed|date=November 2014}}.<ref>First usage of the ''phrase'' was probably James (1890); for example, Merriam-Webster's 9th Collegiate dictionary cites 1890 as first usage. But James was not necessarily the first to assert the concept. Furthermore, whereas James uses the phrase "the stream of thought" throughout his 1890 (he dedicates an entire chapter IX to "The Stream of Thought"), in the 689 pages of text he offers just nine instances of "stream of consciousness", in particular in consideration of the "soul".</ref> He asserts the notion as follows:
:"Consciousness, then, does not appear to itself chopped up in bits. Such words as 'chain' or 'train' do not describe it fitly as it presents itself in the first instance. It is nothing jointed; it flows. A 'river' or a 'stream' are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. ''In talking of it hereafter let us call it the stream of thought, of consciousness, or of subjective life.'' (James 1890:239)
He was enormously skeptical about using [[introspection]] as a technique to understand the stream of consciousness. "The attempt at introspective analysis in these cases is in fact like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see how the darkness looks." <ref>James, William (1890), ''The Principles of Psychology''. ed. [[George Armitage Miller|George A. Miller]], Harvard University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-674-70625-0</ref>

[[Bernard Baars]] has developed [[Global Workspace Theory]]<ref>Baars, Bernard (1997), ''In the Theater of Consciousness'' New York: Oxford University Press</ref> which bears some resemblance to stream of consciousness.

==Criticism==
[[Susan Blackmore]] challenged the concept of stream of consciousness in several papers. "When I say that consciousness is an illusion I do not mean that consciousness does not exist. I mean that consciousness is not what it appears to be. If it seems to be a continuous stream of rich and detailed experiences, happening one after the other to a conscious person, this is the illusion".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Articles/jcs02.htm |title=There is no stream of consciousness |accessdate=2007-11-05}}</ref>

==Literary technique==
{{Main|Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)}}
In literature, [[stream of consciousness writing]] is a [[literary device]] which seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external occurrences. Stream-of-consciousness as a [[narrative device]] is strongly associated with the [[modernist]] movement. The term was first applied in a literary context, transferred from psychology, in ''The Egoist'', April 1918, by [[May Sinclair]], in relation to the early volumes of [[Dorothy Richardson]]'s novel sequence ''Pilgrimage''.<ref>Wilson, Leigh, 2001. [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4086 May Sinclair] ''[[The Literary Encyclopedia]]''</ref> Amongst other modernist novelists who used it are [[James Joyce]] in ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' (1922) and [[William Faulkner]] in ''[[The Sound and the Fury]]'' (1929).<ref>''Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms'', p.212.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Free recall]]
* [[Edmund Husserl]]
* [[Phenomenology (psychology)]]
* [[Qualia]]
* [[Train of thought]]
* [[Samyama]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}


[[Category:Consciousness studies]]
[[Category:Cognition]]