Front cover image for The philosophy of William James : an introduction

The philosophy of William James : an introduction

This 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.
Print Book, English, 2005
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005
x, 246 p. ; 32 cm
9780521840286, 9780521549554, 0521840287, 0521549558
639161702
Introduction; 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.