William James Remembered brings together reminiscences of James by family members, friends, and prominent intellectuals. The result is a many-sided portrait of a man who, besides playing a crucial role in American life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, remains an animating spirit in our own time. The contributors include some of the people who knew James best. His brother, the novelist Henry James, opens the volume with a recollection of William at age seventeen, during one of their trips to Europe. Josiah Royce, George Santayana, and Ralph Barton Perry are among the faculty members of turn-of-the-century Harvard University who offer vivid portraits of their colleague. Memoirs by James's students reveal his pronounced unconventionality and his inspiring presence. Personal friends such as social reformer Josephine Goldmark and physician James Jackson Putnam provide insights into James's private life.

Ultimately, Young William James Thinking reveals how James provided a humane vision well suited to our pluralist age.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.