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William James : Writings 1878-1899 : Psychology, Briefer Course / The Will to Believe / Talks to Teachers and Students / Essays (Library of America) ReviewThe Library of America has performed a great service by making the writings of the American psychologist and philosopher William James (1842 -- 1910) available to a large audience in two large volumes. Volume 1, which I am reviewing here, consists of James's earlier writings from the period 1878 -- 1899. It includes the "Psychology: Briefer Course" (1892), the "Will to Believe and other Essays in Popular Philosophy" (1897), "Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals" (1899), and selected essays. The second volume of the series includes James' major works from 1900 until his death, including the "Varieties of Religious Experience", "Pragmatism", and "A Pluralistic Universe, and additional essays. The two collections do not include James's monumental "Principles of Psychology" (1890), his first important book and the product of twelve years of effort. The "Principles" would require a separate volume of its own. But they include virtually all James's other essential writings and offer an excellent way for the reader to get to know James first-hand and in-depth.
In reading both volumes, I was left with the impression of the continuity of James's themes and thought. James was trained as an MD, the only academic degree he ever received. He began with an interest in Darwin's theory of evolution and in physiology. He soon expanded his interests and became an important founder of modern psychology. His later work develops philosophies of pragmatism, radical empiricism, and pluralism.
This collection of James's early writings shows that James's philosophical concerns pervaded his writing, including his scientific writing, from the outset. James was an empiricist and a scientist committed, as the "Psychology" and several of the essays in this volume show to careful and painstaking scientific research. But James was far from advocating a philosophy of materialism or what today is called scientism or reductionism. Throughout his life, he was preoccupied with showing the complex and many-faceted character of human life. The determinism of the scientific method, for James, did not negate human purpose, activity, and free will. And, most importantly, for James, it did not negate the possibility of religious life or belief in God. In his famous essay "The Will to Believe" included in this volume (which would have better been called "The Right to Believe") and in its companion essays, James argued at length that the teachings and method of science did not destroy the possibility of religion.
In approaching this volume of James's early writings, it might be advantageous for the new reader to distinguish between James's more accessible, popular efforts and his more technical works. An excellent place for the new reader to start in this volume would be with the three essays to students in the "Talks to Teachers and to Students." The essay "On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings" is a wonderful brief introduction to James as it shows eloquently how every person tends to see the world through his own eyes and to ignore or downplay the thoughts and insights of other people. Following the three essays in Talks to Students, I suggest reading James' 1898 essay "Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results" delivered in 1898 in Berkeley, California. In this essay, James first announced and articulated his philosophy of pragmatism, and stated his indebtedness to his philosophical colleagues Charles Peirce and Josiah Royce. This essay makes inspiring reading. James is direct and eloquent in relating his pragmatic philosophy to the religious quest.
After reading these short essays, a good next step would be to read the collection "The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy." In this collection, James is addressing educated college audiences as he explores questions of religious faith, free will, pluralism, and ethics. The final essay in this volume of James's writings, "On Immortality" can be read together with the essays in "The Will to Believe."
The two remaining books in this collection are both derived from James's massive "Principles of Psychology." The "Talks to Teachers" is short and accessible. It focuses on how psychology can be used to advantage in teaching young students. This short book offers an insightful and accessible introduction to James's psychology. Here is one of the more inspring passages in James from the "Memory" chapter of "Talks to Teachers" on the value of perserverence and purpose and the will to learn in the face of obstacles.
"Depend upon it, no one need be too much cast down by the discovery of his deficiency in any elementary faculty of the mind. What tells in life is the whole mind working together, and the deficiencies of any one faculty can be compensated by the efforts of the rest. You can be an artist without visual images, a reader without eyes, a mass of erudition with a bad elementary memory. In almost any subject your passion for the subject will save you. If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich; if you wish to be learned, you will be learned; if you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must, then, really wish these things, and wish them with exclusiveness, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly." (p. 790)
The "Psychology: Briefer Course" was an abridgment James prepared of his "Principles" for use in college introductory courses in psychology. Even though it is an abridgment, the book includes a great deal of detail. It develops James's thought on the "stream of consciousness" and on the nature of the "self" and it is interlaced throughout with observations on the relationship between psychology, philosophy, and religion. Several of the remaining essays in the volume take up themes articulated in the "Psychology" and develop them in substantial technical detail.
James was an eloquent writer. His pragmatic philosophy has been highly influential, with thinkers such as Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam acknowledging its influence. James preoccupation of reconciling the scientific and religious outlooks on life remains much with us. There is no better way to become involved with James's thoughts and issues than by serious and sustained reading of his works. The two volumes in the Library of America series will allow the reader to explore the work of William James. Readers wanting to get to know William James may also wish to read Robert Richardson's excellent biography "William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism".
Robin Friedman
William James : Writings 1878-1899 : Psychology, Briefer Course / The Will to Believe / Talks to Teachers and Students / Essays (Library of America) OverviewThe brilliant, engagingly written early works of the writer and teacher who has profoundly influenced the way Americans think. "The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy" argues that each of us has the right to believe in hypotheses that are not susceptible to proof and that such beliefs might actually change the world. Also includes "Psychology: Briefer Course," a condensed and revised version of the monumental "Principles of Psychology," "Talks to Teachers and Students," and nine important essays.
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