The Dynamic Individualism of William James

The Dynamic Individualism of William James PDF Author: James O. Pawelski
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791479404
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
The Dynamic Individualism of William James analyzes James's rich and complex thought through an examination of his individualism. A central theme of James's writings, individualism underlies his basic views on freedom, society, government, psychology, education, religion, pragmatism, and metaphysics—yet, until now, no one has undertaken a careful study of this important aspect of James's thought. With close readings of texts that include The Principles of Psychology, The Varieties of Religious Experience, and A Pluralistic Universe, James O. Pawelski engages the range of contexts in which James discusses individualism, offers a refreshingly new reading of his work, and, in seeking to resolve James's own psychology, presents an original and convincing case for his dynamic individualism.

The Dynamic Individualism of William James

The Dynamic Individualism of William James PDF Author: James O. Pawelski
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791479404
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Dynamic Individualism of William James analyzes James's rich and complex thought through an examination of his individualism. A central theme of James's writings, individualism underlies his basic views on freedom, society, government, psychology, education, religion, pragmatism, and metaphysics—yet, until now, no one has undertaken a careful study of this important aspect of James's thought. With close readings of texts that include The Principles of Psychology, The Varieties of Religious Experience, and A Pluralistic Universe, James O. Pawelski engages the range of contexts in which James discusses individualism, offers a refreshingly new reading of his work, and, in seeking to resolve James's own psychology, presents an original and convincing case for his dynamic individualism.

William James on Democratic Individuality

William James on Democratic Individuality PDF Author: Stephen S. Bush
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107135958
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
A study of William James' philosophy of democracy and pluralism, and its relevance to modern debates.

William James on Democratic Individuality

William James on Democratic Individuality PDF Author: Stephen S. Bush
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108515320
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
William James (1842–1910) argued for a philosophy of democracy and pluralism that advocates individual and collective responsibility for our social arrangements, our morality, and our religion. In James' view, democracy resides first and foremost not in governmental institutions or in procedures such as voting, but rather in the characteristics of individuals, and in qualities of mind and conduct. It is a philosophy for social change, counselling action and hope despite the manifold challenges facing democratic politics, and these issues still resonate strongly today. In this book, Stephen Bush explores how these themes connect to James' philosophy of religion, his moral thought, his epistemology, his psychology, and his metaphysics. His fresh and original study highlights the relevance of James' thought to modern debates, and will appeal to scholars and students of moral and political philosophy.

Reconstructing Individualism

Reconstructing Individualism PDF Author: James M. Albrecht
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823242110
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
America has a love–hate relationship with individualism. In Reconstructing Individualism, James Albrecht argues that our conceptions of individualism have remained trapped within the assumptions of classic liberalism. He traces an alternative genealogy of individualist ethics in four major American thinkers—Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, John Dewey, and Ralph Ellison. These writers’ shared commitments to pluralism (metaphysical and cultural), experimentalism, and a melioristic stance toward value and reform led them to describe the self as inherently relational. Accordingly, they articulate models of selfhood that are socially engaged and ethically responsible, and they argue that a reconceived—or, in Dewey’s term, “reconstructed”—individualism is not merely compatible with but necessary to democratic community. Conceiving selfhood and community as interrelated processes, they call for an ongoing reform of social conditions so as to educate and liberate individuality, and, conversely, they affirm the essential role individuality plays in vitalizing communal efforts at reform.

Classical American Pragmatism

Classical American Pragmatism PDF Author: Sandra B. Rosenthal
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252067600
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
This collection provides a thorough grounding in the philosophy of American pragmatism by examining the views of four principal thinkers--Charles S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead--on issues of central and enduring importance to life in human society. Pragmatism emerged as a characteristically American response to an inheritance of British empiricism. Presenting a radical reconception of the nature of experience, pragmatism represents a belief that ideas are not merely to be contemplated but must be put into action, tested and refined through experience. At the same time, the American pragmatists argued for an emphasis on human community that would offset the deep-seated American bias in favor of individualism. Far from being a relic of the past, pragmatism offers a dynamic and substantive approach to questions of human conduct, social values, scientific inquiry, religious belief, and aesthetic experience that lie at the center of contemporary life. This volume is an invaluable introduction to a school of thought that remains vital, instructive, and provocative.

An Analysis of William James's The Principles of Psychology

An Analysis of William James's The Principles of Psychology PDF Author: The Macat Team
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1351352725
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
The impact of William James’s 1890 The Principles of Psychology is such that he is commonly known as the father of his subject. Though psychology itself is a very different discipline in the 21st-century, James’s influence continues to be felt – both within the field and beyond. At base, Principles was designed to be a textbook for what was then an emerging field: a summary and explanation of what was known at that point in time. As its continuing influence shows, though, it became far more – a success due in part to the strength of James’s analytical skills and creative thinking. On the one hand, James was a masterful analyst, able to break down what was known in psychology, to trace how it fitted together, and, crucially, to point out the gaps in psychologists’ knowledge. Beyond that, though, he was a creative thinker, who looked at things from different angles and proposed inventive solutions and hypotheses. Among his best known was an entirely new theory of emotion (the James-Lange theory), and the influential notion of the “stream of consciousness” – the latter of which has influenced generations of psychologists and artists alike.

The Essential William James

The Essential William James PDF Author: John R. Shook
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616144408
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
William James (1842-1910) was one of the most original and influential American thinkers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a professor at Harvard University he published many works that had a wide-ranging impact on both psychology and philosophy. His Principles of Psychology was the most important English-language work on the mind since Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding. His Varieties of Religious Experience practically inaugurated the field of psychology of religion, and it also remains a major inspiration for philosophy of religion. Perhaps most importantly, James publicized the movement of pragmatism and supplied much of its powerful momentum. This book covers the primary topics for which James is still closely studied: the nature of experience; the functions of the mind; the criteria for knowledge; the definition of "truth"; the ethical life; and the religious life. His notable terms, still resonating in their respective fields, are all here, from the "stream of consciousness" and "pure experience" to the "will to believe," the "cash-value of truth," and the distinction between the religiously "healthy soul" and the "sick soul." This volume’s eighteen selections receive the bulk of the attention and citation from scholars, provide excellent coverage of core topics, and have a broad appeal across many academic disciplines. This well-organized compilation of James’s important writings offers an exciting and fascinating tour for both the casual reader and the dedicated student interested in philosophy, psychology, religious studies, American studies, or any related field.

William James and the Transatlantic Conversation

William James and the Transatlantic Conversation PDF Author: Martin Halliwell
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191511269
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
William James and the Transatlantic Conversation focuses on the American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910) and his engagements with European thought, together with the multidisciplinary reception of his work on both sides of the Atlantic since his death. James's encounters with European thinkers and ideas ran throughout his early life and across his distinguished international career, in which he participated in a number of transatlantic conversations in science, philosophy, psychology, religion, ethics, and literature. This volume explores and extends these conversations by drawing together twelve scholars from a range of disciplines on both sides of the Atlantic to assess James's work in all its variety, to trace his multidisciplinary reception across the twentieth century, and to evaluate his legacy in the twenty-first century. The first half of the book considers James's many intellectual influences and the second half focuses on A Pluralistic Universe (1909), the published text of his 1908 Hibbert Lectures at Oxford University, as a key text for assessing James's transatlantic conversations. The pluralistic transatlantic currents addressed in the first part of the volume enable a fuller understanding of James's philosophy of pluralism that forms the explicit focus for the second part. Taken as a collection, the volume is unique in scholarship on James in generating transatlantic, interdisciplinary, and cross-generational dialogues, and it repositions James as an important international thinker and arguably the most distinctive American intellectual figure of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Demons of William James

The Demons of William James PDF Author: Tadd Ruetenik
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319916238
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
This book is a psychological exploration of unusual minds, a religious exploration of demonological myth, and a philosophical exploration of the reaches of pragmatism. It uses topics such as hypnotism, mediumship, and mass possession to argue for a comprehensive understanding of the demonic that acknowledges not only the creativity which it encourages, but also the danger it can bring. Professor Ruetenik uses James’ religious pragmatism to evaluate the relevance of psychical research, and to explain common beliefs regarding demons, spirits, and other controlling personalities. The conclusion of this interdisciplinary research is as alarming as it is fascinating: When exploring the demons of William James, we discover that ordinary personality cannot be clearly separated from what we consider the demonic.

William James

William James PDF Author: Philip Davis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192847325
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Discusses the life and work of William James, a founder of the study of psychology. William James (1842-1910) was elder brother to the novelist Henry James and a founder of the study of psychology. But he was also a thinker who sought to work across conventional boundaries, and did not believe in separate disciplines or over-professionalized ways of thinking. James was above all interested in those moments when thoughts suddenly come into being, 'hot' and 'alive'. William James is for anyone who has experienced the personal need for such thinking and feels the excitement of ideas. It concerns the personal experience of reading James, involving extensive quotation from his work in relation to Philip Davis' own inner life and the lives of other readers of James--a thinker who is defiantly convinced of the fundamental validity of the inner life in the making of the Real. This book is about William James's life-writing, writing for the sake of existence, that puts together a mix of literature, psychology, philosophy, and biography in the search for purpose and human flourishing, in place of formal religion. It includes James' interest in his brother's novels and in Shakespearean drama, as well as Thomas Hardy's pessimistic challenge to James. Davis is a reader of literature who feels that readers of novels and poems also need the help of psychology and philosophy, to get the thinking out, to make it into a working part of a life. His book is for readers, especially readers of literature, seeking to create, like William James, a literary way of thinking outside the realm of literature.