The divided self of William James / Richard M. Gale.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gale, Richard M., 1932-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

James, William, 1842-1910.

James, William.

Philosophy.

Local Subjects:

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

x, 364 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Summary:

This book offers a powerful new interpretation of the philosophy of William James. It focuses on the multiple directions in which James's philosophy moves and the inevitable tensions that arise as a result.

The first part of the book explores a range of James's doctrines in which he refuses to privilege any particular perspective, be it that of the scientist, moral agent, artist, or mystic. The second part of the book turns to those doctrines where James favors the perspective of mystical experience. Richard Gale then attempts to reconcile the relativistic tendencies with James's account of mystical experience. An appendix considers the distorted picture of James's philosophy that has been passed down to us through the interpretations of his work by John Dewey.

Such is the range of James's philosophy that this stimulating new approach will find readers among those interested in the history of modern philosophy, especially pragmatism, as well as in the history of ideas, religion, and American studies.

Contents:

The Promethean Pragmatist

1 The Ethics of Prometheanism 25

2 The Willfulness of Belief 50

3 The Freedom of Belief 72

4 The Will to Believe 93

5 The Ethics of Truth 117

6 The Semantics of "Truth" 150

7 Ontological Relativism: William James Meets Poo-bah 186

The Anti-Promethean Mystic

8 The Self 219

9 The I-Thou Quest for Intimacy and Religious Mysticism 246

10 The Humpty-Dumpty Intuition and Panpsychism 273

11 Attempts at a One-World Interpretation of James 303

John Dewey's Naturalization of William James 335.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page [353-358) and index.

ISBN:

0521642698

OCLC:

39655012