Essays in Radical Empiricism

by William James, Fredson Bowers, John J. McDermott, Ignas K. Skrupskelis

Overview

A pioneer in early studies of the human mind and founder of that peculiarly American philosophy called Pragmatism, William James remains America's most widely read philosopher. Generations of students have been drawn to his lucid presentations of philosophical problems. His works, now being made available for the first time in a definitive edition, have a permanent place in American letters and a continuing influence in philosophy and psychology. The essays gathered in the posthumously published Essays in Radical Empiricism formulate ideas that had brewed in James's mind for thirty years as he sought a way out of the philosophical dilemmas generated by the new psychology of the late nineteenth century. They constitute the explanatory core of his doctrine of radical empiricism, a doctrine that charts his course between the absolute idealism he could not accept and, at the other extreme, the law of associationism, which reduces knowledge to sheer contiguity of ideas. In his introduction John J. McDermott describes the historical background and the genesis of James's theory and considers the objections raised by its opponents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674267176
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1976
Series:	The Works of William James , #5
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Fredson Bowers is Linden Kent Professor of English, Emeritus, at the University of Virginia.

Ignas K. Skrupskelis is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Foreword


Introduction by John J. McDermott


Essays in Radical Empiricism


Does "Consciousness" Exist?


A World of Pure Experience


The Thing and Its Relations


How Two Minds Can Know One Thing


The Place of Affectional Facts in a World of Pure Experience


The Experience of Activity


The Essence of Humanism


La Notion de Conscience


Is Radical Empiricism Solipsistic?


Mr. Pitkin's Refutation of 'Radical Empiricism'


A Reply to Mr. Pitkin


Humanism and Truth Once More


Absolutism and Empiricism


Controversy about Truth


Notes


A Note on the Editorial Method


The Text of Essays in Radical Empiricism


1. The History


2. The Documents


3. The Editorial Problem


Apparatus


Emendations


Textual Notes


Historical Collation


Word-Division


Appendixes


1. The Experience of Activity


2. Discussion Following "La Notion de Conscience"


3. "La Notion de Conscience": Translation


4. James and John E. Russell


General Index


Key to the Pagination of Edition

Editorial Reviews

Though not technically out of print, both of these titles are only available in hardcover editions selling for well over $100 apiece. These thrifty paperbacks make them much more accessible.

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