James, William (1842-1910), became the most widely read American philosopher of the 1900’s. With Charles S. Peirce and John Dewey, he led a philosophical movement called pragmatism (see Pragmatism ).
Early career.
James, the brother of the novelist Henry James, was born on January 11, 1842, in New York City. As a medical student at Harvard University, he studied anatomy and physiology under the naturalist Louis Agassiz. Later, James’s interests turned to psychology and the relationship among experience, thinking, and conduct. His The Principles of Psychology (1890) is considered a classic.
Neither physiology nor psychology could satisfy James’s interest in the human condition. He was basically a philosopher who believed in the supreme importance of ideas. His own experiences had forced him to raise philosophical questions. James struggled to find his life’s work. Depression over his inability to reach a decision led him to the verge of despair. He finally became convinced that people could devote their lives to finding new answers to such ancient questions as: Can human effort change the course of events? Does God exist? What difference would His existence make to people? What is the good life? How does a person’s conviction about what is good affect his or her actions?
His beliefs.
James tried to answer philosophical questions in pragmatic terms. He believed that every difference in thinking must make a difference to someone, somewhere. If two theories differ, the difference becomes clear when we know (1) how they differ over what the facts are, and (2) the difference in our behavior if we believe that one or the other is true.
One person may claim that people are free and can make real choices. Another may claim that people are not free because all human decisions and actions are determined by factors beyond their control. These claims cannot both be true. Therefore, according to James, we must find a way to decide between them because our conduct depends on which we adopt. James proposed that we approach such questions by tracing the consequences of each viewpoint. If we are free, we can make decisions. We are responsible for our actions. We can regret some of our actions and can say that the world would be better if such actions had not been carried out. If we are not free, we do not choose our actions. We are not responsible for our actions, and it makes no sense to speak about something happening differently from the way it did happen.
James did not claim to have solved difficult philosophical problems for all time. He tried to put them into a form that would make it easier for people to solve the problems for themselves. All people, James believed, must make up their own minds on issues of human life and destiny that cannot be settled on scientific grounds. James wrote a famous essay called “The Will to Believe” (1896). It states that if we believe in the possibility of some future event taking place, this belief increases our power to help make the event happen when the time comes for action. James’s other works include Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), Pragmatism (1907), and The Meaning of Truth (1909). James died on August 26, 1910.
