William James, Multiple Personality, and The Varieties of Religious Experience: Its Historical and Intellectual Context

In my post of December 26, 2013, I discussed William James’s conclusion that the psychological basis of religious experience was the same as the psychological basis for multiple personality: the mind’s capacity for multiple consciousness (in contrast to the erroneous Freudian psychoanalytic model of the conscious/unconscious).

If you want to know more about it, I recommend Ann Taves, a professor of religious studies who has a special interest in cognitive science:

Taves, Ann: “The Fragmentation of Consciousness and The Varieties of Religious Experience: William James’s Contribution to a Theory of Religion,” Chapter 3, pages 48-72, in William James and a Science of Religions: Reexperiencing The Varieties of Religious Experience, edited by Wayne Proudfoot. New York, Columbia University Press, 2004.