Description
Book SynopsisThis 2004 book is an accessible introduction to the full range of the philosophy of William James. It portrays that philosophy as containing a deep division between a Promethean type of pragmatism and a passive mysticism. Richard Gale attempts to harmonize these pragmatic and mystical perspectives.
Trade Review'What makes the book exceptional is its intimate grasp of James's thought and of the thinker behind it …' Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
'Carefully argued, written with gusto and full of wise-cracking bonhomie...a major stimulus to the understanding of James's philosophy.' Philosophical Quarterly
'… presents a deeper, more systematic picture of James's philosophy than any other presently available.' Mind
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. The Promethean Pragmatist: 1. The ethics of Prometheanism; 2. The willfulness of belief; 3. The freedom of belief; 4. The will to believe; 5. The ethics of truth; 6. The semantics of 'truth'; 7. Ontological relativism: William James meets Poo-bah; Part II. The Passive Mystic: 8. The self; 9. The I-thou quest for intimacy and religious mysticism; 10. The Humpty Dumpty intuition and backyard mysticism; 11. An attempt at one world interpretation of James.
