The Writings of William James: A Comprehensive Edition / Edition 1

by William James, John J. McDermott

Overview

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 representive 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, with additions bringing it up to 1976.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226391885
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	01/15/1978
Series:	Phoenix Book Ser.
Edition description:	Comprehensive Edition
Pages:	912
Product dimensions:	5.36(w) x 10.62(h) x 1.89(d)

Table of Contents

Preface to the Phoenix Edition
Selected Secondary Sources
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chronology
Bibliographic Abbreviations and Editor's Notes on the Text
I. Personal Depression and Recovery
Henry James, Senior
William James
William James: Feb. 1, 1870
William James: April 30, 1870
II. Psychological Foundations
Habit
The Stream of Thought
Necessary Truths and the Effects of Experience
III. Radical Empiricism
Radical Empiricism: 1897
Radical Empiricism: 1909
The Function of Cognition
The Knowing of Things Together
Does "Consciousness" Exist?
The Notion of Consciousness
A World of Pure Experience
The Thing and Its Relations
How Two Minds Can Know One Thing
Percept and Concept—The Import of Concepts
Percept and Concept—The Abuse of Concepts
Percept and Concept—Some Corollaries
The One and the Many
The One and the Many (continued)—Values and Defects
The Place of Affectional Facts in a World of Pure Experience
The Experience of Activity
The Continuity of Experience
On the Notion of Reality as Changing
The Essence of Humanism
IV. The Pragmatic Method
[Pragmatism and Radical Empiricism]
The Sentiment of Rationality
Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results
The Present Dilemma in Philosophy
What Pragmatism Means
Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered
The One and the Many
Pragmatism and Common Sense
Pragmatism's Conception of Truth
A Dialogue
Interview in [The] New York Times, 1907
Pragmatism and Humanism
Pragmatism and Religion
V. Historical Judgments
Philosophy and Its Critics
The Types of Philosophic Thinking
Monistic Idealism
Hegel and His Method
Concerning Fechner
The Compounding of Consciousness
Bergson and His Critique of Intellectualism
Address at the Emerson Centenary in Concord
VI. Ethical and Religious Dimensions of Radical Empiricism
The Dilemma of Determinism
The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life
On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings
What Makes a Life Significant
The Moral Equivalent of War
The Energies of Men
Will
The Will to Believe
Faith and the Right to Believe
[Experience and Religion: A Comment]
Circumscription of the [Religious] Topic
Conclusions [to The Varieties of Religious Experience]
Postscript [to The Varieties of Religious Experience]
[Psychic Phenomena: A Comment]
Final Impressions of a Psychical Researcher
[An Overview]
Annotated Bibliography of the Writings of William James