William James’ Debt to Hermann Lotze

The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of Rudolph Hermann Lotze’s ideas on William James. The article will show that several core concepts in James’s The Principles of Psychology (1890) have been inspired by Lotze’s work. Both authors notably agree that psychology is not a natural science. They express a sharp criticism of scientific psychology and of the associationist view of the mind. Lotze’s arguments also underpin James’s theories of ideomotor action, of emotions and of local signs. In short, James draws heavily on Lotze’s philosophy to formulate many of the original claims in The Principles of Psychology.