William James on a phenomenological psychology of immediate experience: the true foundation for a science of consciousness?

Throughout his career, William James defended personal consciousness. In his "Principles of Psychology" (1890), he declared that psychology is the scientific study of states of consciousness as such and that he intended to presume from the outset that the thinker was the thought. But while writing it, he had been investigating a dynamic psychology of the subconscious, which found a major place in his Gifford Lectures, published as "The Varieties of Religious Experience" in 1902.

On the psycho- in psychophysiology: notes for a history of the mind-body effect.

One hundred and twenty-five years of the dialogue between psychology and physiology reveal a vibrant discussion about the mind-body effect--the ability of waking consciousness to influence its own normally unconscious physiology through conscious intention, and conversely, the reciprocal effect of physiology on consciousness. In the early phase, the data remained largely anecdotal. Scientific study of the emotions then opened the door to dynamic theories of the subconscious.