Human beings down through the ages, in holding the "inward" up against the "outward" (for instance soul versus body, mental im-pression versus physical ex-pression) have felt strangely free to assert categorically, not only that one of them "causes" the other (and accordingly comes definitely "before" the other), but also that the one is definitely "better", "more dignified", "more real" etc., than the other. And the great general trend which that differentiation would almost invariably adopt was this:
"The inward (the impression) causes the outward (the expression)." Consequently, "the inward comes before the outward". Finally, "the inward is better (more dignified, more real) than the outward".
Of course it is here also possible to go to the opposite extreme, stating categorically: "The outward is better (more dignified, more real) than the inward." And we do not deny that we sometimes feel this latter viewpoint may, after all, be a sound reaction. But of course it should never be forgotten that there is a third alternative, as well. In some chapters of this book we discuss Aristotle's striking views of totality, as regards a certain monism of the inward and the outward, and also a certain monism of the theoretical and practical. But even in these introductory notes we shall soon return to a similar monism.
Professor Lagerborg of Uppsala University, in a brief survey "Om själslivets yttringar" (1959), gives a vivid description of some quite curious expressions, or "Ausdrucksbewegungen", as another modern psychologist (Freienfels) would call them. With these authorities as our "basis of psychological reference", we shall now in a simple and clearly understandable way-and just in accordance with the special needs of our particular topic-try to describe and interpret some very relevant facts of everyday life. Then we shall also briefly discuss the comments made by Hebb on the ideas of William James regarding the relation between human emotions on one hand and what we may call their behavioural correlates on the other.[1]
Note: