The Philosophy of William James
An Introduction

This 2004 book is an accessible introduction to the full range of the philosophy of William James.

Richard M. Gale (Author)

9780521840286, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 October 2004

258 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.55 kg

'… presents a deeper, more systematic picture of James's philosophy than any other presently available.' Mind

This 2004 book is an accessible introduction to the full range of the philosophy of William James. It portrays that philosophy as containing a deep division between a Promethean type of pragmatism and a passive mysticism. The pragmatist James conceives of truth and meaning as a means to control nature and make it do our bidding. The mystic James eschews the use of concepts in order to penetrate to the inner conscious core of all being, including nature at large. Richard Gale attempts to harmonize these pragmatic and mystical perspectives. This introduction is drawn from and complements the author's much more comprehensive and systematic study The Divided Self of William James, a volume that has received the highest critical praise. With its briefer compass and non-technical style this introduction should help to disseminate the key elements of one of the great modern philosophies to an even wider readership.

Introduction
Part I. The Promethean Pragmatist: 1. The ethics of Prometheanism
2. The willfulness of belief
3. The freedom of belief
4. The will to believe
5. The ethics of truth
6. The semantics of 'truth'
7. Ontological relativism: William James meets Poo-bah
Part II. The Passive Mystic: 8. The self
9. The I-thou quest for intimacy and religious mysticism
10. The Humpty Dumpty intuition and backyard mysticism
11. An attempt at one world interpretation of James.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Mysticism [HRLK2], Literary studies: general [DSB], Semantics, discourse analysis, etc [CFG]