William James, the “Unthought Known,” and Aesthetic Experience
Cambridge University Press eBooks February 19, 2026 DOI: 10.1017/9781009688611.015 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that William James's notion of the "fringe"—the vague, felt, peripheral context of consciousness—should be extended to aesthetic experience, which the author contends is nondiscursive and ineffable but not unconscious, and suggests connecting this concept to modern research on nonconscious cognitive processing. |
Abstract
James insisted on the existence and importance of consciousness and, unlike so many explorers in the new field of psychology, he resisted any idea of the unconscious or of intelligent automatisms, like “unconscious cerebration.” But his “stream of consciousness” included not only definite images, but also the “free water of consciousness” that flows around them, which he would call a “halo,” “penumbra,” or most often, a “fringe.” This was the elusive, transitory territory of “the vague” and evanescent, the peripheral and unarticulated, of feelings, recognitions, meaningfulness. Not unconscious, but on the margin, it provided the necessary context for the focus of attention. This essay extends James’s conception (more fully than he did) to aesthetic experience, which is also nondiscursive, unarticulable, ineffable – but not unconscious. And it draws James’s “fringe” into the twenty-first century by nudging it toward the nonconscious cognitive processing that has captured the interest of so much contemporary psychology.