Download or read book Psychology written by William James and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-03-07 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic text examines habit, consciousness, self, discrimination, the sense of time, memory, perception, imagination, reasoning, instincts, volition, much more. This edition omits the outdated first nine chapters.

Download or read book The Essential William James written by John R. Shook and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2011-07-05 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Writings of William James written by John J. McDermott and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-02-06 with total page 1388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive collection of writings by the legendary philosopher, whose sweeping body of work influenced our ideas about psychology, religion, free will, and pragmatism. In his introduction to this collection, John McDermott presents James's thinking in all its manifestations, stressing the importance of radical empiricism and placing into perspective the doctrines of pragmatism and the will to believe. The critical periods of James's life are highlighted to illuminate the development of his philosophical and psychological thought. The anthology features representative selections from The Principles of Psychology, The Will to Believe, and The Variety of Religious Experience in addition to the complete Essays in Radical Empiricism and A Pluralistic Universe. The original 1907 edition of Pragmatism is included, as well as classic selections from all of James's other major works. Of particular significance for James scholarship is the supplemented version of Ralph Barton Perry's Annotated Bibliography of the Writings of William James.

Download or read book William and Henry James written by William James and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of 216 letters offers an accessible, single-volume distillation of the exchange between celebrated brothers William and Henry James. Spanning more than fifty years, their correspondence presents a lively account of the persons, places, and events that affected the Euro-American world from 1861 until the death of William James in August 1910. An engaging introduction by John J. McDermott suggests the significance of the Selected Letters for the study of the entire family.

Download or read book William James written by Robert D. Richardson and published by HMH. This book was released on 2007-09-14 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of the fascinating William James, whose life and writing put an indelible stamp on psychology, philosophy, teaching, and religion—on modernism itself. Often cited as the “father of American psychology,” William James was an intellectual luminary who made significant contributions to at least five fields: psychology, philosophy, religious studies, teaching, and literature. A member of one of the most unusual and notable of American families, James struggled to achieve greatness amid the brilliance of his theologian father; his brother, the novelist Henry James; and his sister, Alice James. After studying medicine, he ultimately realized that his true interests lay in philosophy and psychology, a choice that guided his storied career at Harvard, where he taught some of America’s greatest minds. But it is James’s contributions to intellectual study that reveal the true complexity of man. In this biography that seeks to understand James’s life through his work—including Principles of Psychology, The Varieties of Religious Experience, and Pragmatism—Robert D. Richardson has crafted an exceptionally insightful work that explores the mind of a genius, resulting in “a gripping and often inspiring story of intellectual and spiritual adventure” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “A magnificent biography.” —The Washington Post

Download or read book Sick Souls Healthy Minds written by John Kaag and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James believed that philosophy was meant to articulate, and help answer, a single existential question, one which lent itself to the title of one of his most famous essays: "Is life worth living?" Through examination of an array of existentially loaded topics covered in his works-truth, God, evil, suffering, death, and the meaning of life-James concluded that it is up to us to make life worth living. He said that our beliefs, the truths that guide our lives, matter-their value and veracity turn on the way they play out practically for ourselves and our communities. For James, philosophy was about making life meaningful, and for some of us, liveable. This is the core of his "pragmatic maxim," that truth should be judged on the bases of its practical consequences. Kaag shows how James put this maxim into use in his philosophy and his life and how we can do so in our own. .

Download or read book William James written by Krister Dylan Knapp and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2017-03-08 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this insightful new book on the remarkable William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, Krister Dylan Knapp provides the first deeply historical and acutely analytical account of James's psychical research. While showing that James always maintained a critical stance toward claims of paranormal phenomena like spiritualism, Knapp uses new sources to argue that psychical research held a strikingly central position in James's life. It was crucial to his familial and professional relationships, the fashioning of his unique intellectual disposition, and the shaping of his core doctrines, especially the will-to-believe, empiricism, fideism, and theories of the subliminal consciousness and immortality. Knapp explains how and why James found in psychical research a way to rethink the well-trodden approaches to classic Euro-American religious thought, typified by the oppositional categories of natural vs. supernatural and normal vs. paranormal. He demonstrates how James eschewed these choices and instead developed a tertiary synthesis of them, an approach Knapp terms tertium quid, the third way. Situating James's psychical research in relation to the rise of experimental psychology and Protestantism's changing place in fin de siecle America, Knapp asserts that the third way illustrated a much broader trend in transatlantic thought as it struggled to navigate the uncertainties and religious adventurism of the modern age.

Download or read book The Book of James written by Susy Smith and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 1999-12 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Susy Smith insists she did not write this book. The author of twenty-four works on psychical phenomena is sure the information herein could not have originated within her own subconscious mind because it includes so much about which she could not possibly have any knowledge. She maintains instead that it came to her via automatic writing from a man who says he has been in the spirit world for more than sixty years. Having started her research in the psychical field some twetny years ago as a cynical, agnostic newspaperperson, Susy Smith fought against a belief in the possibility of spirit communication all during the time she was studying and researching the subject. Now, after publicaion of all her books—which include Life Is Forever, ESP and Hypnosis, How to Develop Your ESP, and Confessional of a Psychic, in which she tells of her own gradual psychical development—she admits to having become convinced of the survival of the human soul on the basis of evidence alone. Life is Forever gives case histories which have helped persuade her of this. The Book of James, however, does not bring evidence. It supplies a philosophy of life after death. Whoever wrote it … it is inspiring and challenging reading.

Download or read book William James written by Gerald Eugene Myers and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This magisterial book is the first comprehensive interpretive and critical study of one of America's foremost philosophers and psychologists. Gerald Myers traces James's life and career and then uses this fresh biographical information to illuminate his writings and ideas.

Download or read book Genuine Reality written by Linda Simon and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1999-05-15 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction1. Mortification2. Gestation3. Appetites and Affections: 1847-18554. Other People's Rules: 1855-18605. Spiritual Dangers: 1860-18656. Descent: 1866-18707. Absolute Beginnings: 1870-18748. Engaged: 1875-18789. Gifts: 1878-188210. An Entirely New Segment of Life: 1882-188411. The Lost Child: 1885-188712. Family Romance: 1888-189013. Surcharged with Vitality: 1890-189314. Real Fights: 1894-189615. Civic Genius: 1897-189816. A Gleam of the End: 1899-190117. A Temper of Peace18. Mental Pirouettes: 1906-190719. The Pitch of Life: 1908-190920. Eclipse: 1910AcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Download or read book Reconstructing the Personal Library of William James written by Ermine L. Algaier and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-11-23 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While a reconstruction of the whole of William James’s personal library isn’t feasible, there are significant portions of it that reside within the Harvard University Library system and this book is a partial reconstruction of their story. Reconstructing the Personal Library of William James offers a new, comprehensive account of the James collection at Harvard University, bringing together all known Harvard-owned entries into one comprehensive volume. The annotated bibliography contains data on 2,554 entries (2,862 volumes) from James’s personal library, including both the 1923 “Philosophical Library” and all known additional donations by James and his family. . Each entry, when applicable, contains the following data points: Harvard Library location and call number, provenance, bookplate, accession record, autographs, inscriptions, ownership marks, indexical annotations, markings, and marginalia. To orient the reader, Ermine L. Algaier IV supplements the bibliography with essays that examine the history of the James’s library at Harvard, assess the size of the collection and how it came to reside at Harvard, and showcase patterns that emerge from looking at the collection as a whole. Additional essays are devoted to explaining the source lists and archival resources used in reconstructing James’s personal library, as well as outlining steps for continued research on the collection.

Download or read book Young William James Thinking written by Paul J. Croce and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ultimately, Young William James Thinking reveals how James provided a humane vision well suited to our pluralist age.

Download or read book William James and the Reinstatement of the Vague written by William J. Gavin and published by . This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently, the work of philosopher-psychologist William James has undergone something of a renaissance. In this contribution to the trend, William Gavin argues that James's plea for the "reinstatement of the vague" to its proper place in our experience should be regarded as a seminal metaphor for his thought in general. The concept of vagueness applies to areas of human experience not captured by facts that can be scientifically determined nor by ideas that can be formulated in words. In areas as seemingly diverse as psychology, religion, language, and metaphysics, James continually highlights the importance of the ambiguous, the contextual, the pluralistic, or the uncertain over the foundational. Indeed, observes the author, only in a vague unfinished world can the human self, fragile as it is, have the possibility of making a difference or exercising the will to believe. Taking James's plea seriously, Gavin traces the idea of the vague beyond the philosopher's own texts. In "conversations" with other philosophers--including Peirce, Marx, Dewey, and, to a lesser extent, Rorty and Derrida--the author shows that a version of James's position is central to their thought. Finally, Gavin looks for the pragmatic upshot of James's plea, reaffirming the importance of the vague in two concrete areas: the doctor-patient relationship in medicine and the creation and experiencing of modern art. In conclusion, Gavin argues that James's work is itself vague, in a positive sense, and that as such it functions as a "spur" to the reader.

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to William James written by Ruth Anna Putnam and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-04-13 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most convenient and accessible guide to James currently available.

Download or read book William James at the Boundaries written by Francesca Bordogna and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-12 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At Columbia University in 1906, William James gave a highly confrontational speech to the American Philosophical Association (APA). He ignored the technical philosophical questions the audience had gathered to discuss and instead addressed the topic of human energy. Tramping on the rules of academic decorum, James invoked the work of amateurs, read testimonials on the benefits of yoga and alcohol, and concluded by urging his listeners to take up this psychological and physiological problem. What was the goal of this unusual speech? Rather than an oddity, Francesca Bordogna asserts that the APA address was emblematic—it was just one of many gestures that James employed as he plowed through the barriers between academic, popular, and pseudoscience, as well as the newly emergent borders between the study of philosophy, psychology, and the “science of man.” Bordogna reveals that James’s trespassing of boundaries was an essential element of a broader intellectual and social project. By crisscrossing divides, she argues, James imagined a new social configuration of knowledge, a better society, and a new vision of the human self. As the academy moves toward an increasingly interdisciplinary future, William James at the Boundaries reintroduces readers to a seminal influence on the way knowledge is pursued.

Download or read book What is an Emotion written by Dr. William James and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-03-25 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I should say first of all that the only emotions I propose expressly to consider here are those that have a distinct bodily expression. That there are feelings of pleasure and displeasure, of interest and excitement, bound up with mental operations, but having no obvious bodily expression for their consequence, would, I suppose, be held true by most readers. Certain arrangements of sounds, of lines, of colours are agreeable, and others the reverse, without the degree of the feeling being sufficient to quicken the pulse or breathing, or to prompt to movements of either the body or the face. Certain sequences of ideas charm us as much as others tire us. It is a real intellectual delight to get a problem solved, and a real intellectual torment to have to leave it unfinished. The first set of examples, the sounds, lines, and colours, are either bodily sensations, or the images of such. The second set seem to depend on processes in the ideational centres exclusively. Taken together, they appear to prove that there are pleasures and pains inherent in certain forms of nerve-action as such, wherever that action occur. The case of these feelings we will at present leave entirely aside, and confine our attention to the more complicated cases in which a wave of bodily disturbance of some kind accompanies the perception of the interesting sights or sounds, or the passage of the exciting train of ideas. Surprise, curiosity, rapture, fear, anger, lust, greed, and the like, become then the names of the mental states with which the person is possessed. The bodily disturbances are said to be the "manifestation" of these several emotions, their "expression" or "natural language;" and these emotions themselves, being so strongly characterized both from within and without, may be called the standard emotions. --William James

Download or read book The Creation of Chaos written by Frederick J. Ruf and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1991-01-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first book-length study of William James' style, arguing that the manner in which James writes The Principles of Psychology and The Varieties of Religious Experience serves to construct a chaotic world for his readers. The book examines the uses of chaos in western literature and philosophy and reaches two conclusions: that chaos may be "utter confusion and disorder," but, paradoxically, that disorder is communicated through some particular order -- in Joyce's term, all chaos is "chaosmos." Secondly, what is essential about chaos is what it does: nothing is inherently chaotic, rather chaos is used to contrast with or challenge something that is more structured or formed. Finally, the author presents an examination of the religious function of James' chaotic worldview as a disorientation which orients.