The Divided Self of William James

ISBN-13: 9780521642699 / Angielski / Twarda / 1999 / 376 str.

Richard M. Gale

Opis

This book offers a powerful new interpretation of the philosophy of William James. It focuses on the multiple directions in which James' philosophy moves and the inevitable contradictions that arise as a result. Richard Gale shows how relativistic tendencies can be reconciled with James' account of mystical experience. Such is the range of James' philosophy that this stimulating new interpretation will find readers among those interested in the history of modern philosophy and especially in pragmatism, as well as in the history of ideas, religion, and American studies.

Recenzje

'Original in focus and style, Gale's book will certainly be hailed as one of the most stimulating studies of James to have appeared in years. And it will attract a wide readership not only for the benefit of scholars and seminar students but for all those 'out there' beyond the campus border, who for one reason or another read James and about him and his works.' Gerald Myers, author of William James: His Life and Thought

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; 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 Anti-Promethean Mystic: 8. The self; 9. The I-thou quest for intimacy and religious mysticism; 10. The humpty-dumpty intuition and panpsychism; 11. Attempts at a one-world interpretation of James; Appendix: John Dewey's naturalization of William James; Bibliography of works cited; Index.