This paper examines William James' educational thought, especiallyabout his talks on "teaching," and discusses the background ideasunderlying his thinking on teaching. As often noted, his influence onAmerican schools and the outlook of educators was very profound.However, as Jim Garrison et al. indicated in William James andEducation, works focusing on the implications of his thoughts of educationhave been severely limited up till now.In this paper, I examine the contents of his influential book titledTalks to Teachers on Psychology （1899）, comparing James' opinionsin them with his outlooks in his other psychological works, and investigatehis thoughts on education and teaching in the book. I focusespecially on his view of children and on the free-will controversy,and indicate his acceptance of the Darwinian thinking of evolution inhis educational writings. Eric Bredo, one of the authors of WilliamJames and Education, discussed the Darwinian center to James' vision,and claimed that James had reconciled freedom with determin-ism, and individuality with universality, by using Darwinian ideas.Favoring Bredo's opinion, this paper discusses some relationships betweenJames' talks on teaching as "an art" and his belief of "Freewill",and claims that he had accepted the "variation" concept derivedfrom Darwin as the theoretical background. Owing to hisacceptance of the "variation" concept, he could regard children aspartly free and emphasize the necessity of intuitive knowledge onthe pupil in the teaching act.
|
