Pioneer psychologist, unique philosopher and religious thinker
Without ignoring James' contributions to psychology and philosophy, this lens focuses mostly on his work in the field of religion.
What made William James famous?
- He wrote about religious experience from it's own perspective
- He was one of the founders of psychology
- He was a famous philosopher
And... (important to me and my fellow theosophists)...
- William James was a theosophist and quoted Blavatsky's Voice of the Silence in his at one time famous 'Varieties of Religious Experience'.
William James - summarized biography
William James was born at the Astor House in New York City, He was the son of Henry James Sr., an independently wealthy and notoriously eccentric Swedenborgian theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. The intellectual brilliance of the James family milieu and the remarkable epistolary talents of several of its members have made them a subject of continuing interest to historians, biographers, and critics.
James interacted with a wide array of writers and scholars throughout his life, including his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Charles Peirce, Josiah Royce, George Santayana, Ernst Mach, John Dewey, W. E. B. Du Bois, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, Jr., James George Frazer, Henri Bergson, H. G. Wells, G. K. Chesterton, Sigmund Freud, Gertrude Stein, Carl Jung and Benito Mussolini.
Source
Varieties of Religious Experience
William James Quotes
Religion is "That personal attitude which the individual finds himself impelled to take up towards what he apprehends to be the divine."
Lecture I, Religion and Neurology
There are moments of sentimental and mystical experience . . . that carry an enormous sense of inner authority and illumination with them when they come. But they come seldom, and they do not come to everyone; and the rest of life makes either no connection with them, or tends to contradict them more than it confirms them. Some persons follow more the voice of the moment in these cases, some prefer to be guided by the average results. Hence the sad discordancy of so many of the spiritual judgments of human beings; a discordancy which will be brought home to us acutely enough before these lectures end.
Lecture II, Circumscription of the Topic
Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it is evident that out of religion in the sense in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiastical organizations may secondarily grow.
Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
What William James is most famous for...
Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 07/12/2009)![]()
Not only is this book an absolute classic in the world of psychology and the psychology of religion - it was also very influential in the philosophy of religion.
Not that that's surprising: William James was both a philosopher and a psychologist (easier then than now).
I thought the quotes from a variety of sources - people's own spiritual experiences - made this book timeless. Aside from that: William James' insight into religion and it's clash with modernity ages well also.
On Reason and Religion
The perspective of William James
The limits of reason had to be faced though.
- One should decide between options that are reasonable: haven't been proven wrong
- It isn't reasonable to postpone important decisions until scientists know for sure
- Love finds its origin to a large extent IN the choice itself. This is true for the love of God as well.
In other words: People have the will to believe.
Another way of putting it is:
Skeptics hate falsehood. They will not believe what cannot be proved.
Believers love truth. They will believe what hasn't been proved wrong.
Other Books by William James still in print
Pragmatism - a school of philosophy
source
William James biography
William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism by Robert D. Richardson
Pivotal member of the Metaphysical Club, author of more...0 points
House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family by Paul Fisher
An American odyssey that reveals the fascinating c more...0 points
Psychological works
He gained widespread recognition with his monumental Principles of Psychology (1890), twelve hundred pages in two volumes which took twelve years to complete. Psychology: The Briefer Course, was an 1892 abridgement designed as a less rigorous introduction to the field. These works criticized both the English associationist school and the Hegelianism of his day as competing dogmatisms of little explanatory value, and sought to re-conceive of the human mind as inherently purposive and selective.
Source
William James texts
- William James
- Information on and readings from American psychologist and philosopher William James
- William James, one of the famous members of the Theosophical Society
- Theosophy was a major influence on society in East and West. an inventory.
What do you think of William James?
Reader feedback on this William James lens
Share your stories, sightings, thoughts, rants, raves...
wrote
An interesting lens on another of the thinkers of humanity. I would like to invite you to join the group, Why Are We Here?
flowski wrote...
Interesting lens on the unique philosopher William James. I enjoy your perspective here and on all your lenses!
The_Homeopath wrote...
The top just says "William James - psycho..."
I thought that was a bit of an odd title until I saw how it had been cut. Very good read though!
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