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

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. .

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

"Great Men, Great Thoughts, and The Environment" by William James. Published by DigiCat. DigiCat publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each DigiCat edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

**"William James (1842-1910) was "a towering figure in the history of American thought--without doubt the foremost psychologist this country has produced." That was the opinion of Gordon Allport, a Harvard professor and one-time president of the American Psychological Association. However, few Americans living in this third millennium have ever heard of James, despite the fact that his profound insights into the human psyche are now more urgently needed than ever before. But before James' insights can once more become available, a barrier to their reception must be removed. What barrier? James' "productive paradoxes." That's what Allport charitably called them. 'They' were more than paradoxes, however. They were the pervasive contradictions in James' thought. To rescue his insights from entangling contradictions, the first step must be to draw attention to common sense, the foundation of all 'scientific' learning. James confessed that it was only in 1903, a few years before his death, that he realized for the first time "the perfect magnificence as a philosophical achievement" of our everyday, common-sense thinking. This book draws together the threads of James' ideas about such elements of common-sense as consciousness, language, meaning, learning, space, time, and thought itself.