New Releases by William James

A selection of seventeen essays from the writings of pioneering American psychologist/philosopher William James that provide insight into his thinking on emotion, war, habit, determinism, religion, and other topics.

How do students learn? What is the mental life of the pupil? How can students and teachers alike intensify their relationship and enhance the learning environment? American psychologist and philosopher WILLIAM JAMES (18421910), brother of novelist Henry James, was a groundbreaking researcher at Harvard University, as well as a profoundly influential explorer of the learning process and one of the most significant academics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In these essays, considered a vital companion to Jamess Principles of Psychology (1890) and gleaned from a series of lectures on psychology given to teachers at Harvard in 1892James addresses both students and teachers on: [ psychology and the teaching art t[ he stream of consciousness [ education and behavior [ the laws of habit [ the acquisition of ideas [ the gospel of relaxation [ what makes a life significant [ and more.

What is reality? How do we test the value of any given philosophical system? Can philosophy be useful? Why must we reject the notion that there is one concrete truth? American psychologist and philosopher WILLIAM JAMES (18421910), brother of novelist Henry James, was a groundbreaking researcher at Harvard University, author of such works as Principles of Psychology (1890) and The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902), and one of the most influential academics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here, over a series of eight lectures delivered at the Lowell Institute in Boston in late 1906 and at Columbia University in early 1907, he explores these questions as he discusses: [ The Present Dilemma in Philosophy [ What Pragmatism Means [ Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered [ The One and the Many [ Pragmatism and Common Sense [ Pragmatisms Conception of Truth [ Pragmatism and Humanism [ Pragmatism and Religion

William James, a member of America''s most illustrious intellectual family, is widely acclaimed as the country''s foremost philosopher, the first of its psychologists, and a champion of religious pluralism. As the apostle of pragmatism, his influence on American thought is as strong now as it has ever been. James''s emphasis on the creative power of faith, will, and action, his opening up of philosophy to the fresh air of ordinary experience, his fascination with alternative forms of belief and states of consciousness, and his impatience with dogmas of any kind--all make him a defender of individual experience, and earn him a place beside Emerson and Whitman as an exponent of American democratic culture. In this volume are the brilliant, engagingly written works of James''s early and middle years. The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy advances the liberating argument 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. The conversational style of these essays reflects their origin in public lectures, as well as James''s conviction that truth can be discovered as much in the course of everyday life as in the activities of science or of philosophical speculation. Talks to Teachers and to Students, also drawn from lectures, helped transform the emerging science of education. Here James applies his new psychology to classroom theory and conduct, especially for the primary grades. This immensely influential book has never gone out of print. It emphasizes the role in learning of instinct, play, and habit, along with the importance of engaging the voluntary interests of students. James''s warm and sympathetic nature informs his treatment of children, who can best be taught by those who respect the child''s autonomy and who avoid what he calls "hammering in." Psychology: Briefer Course is far more than a shortened version of his monumental Principles of Psychology. It significantly revises parts of the earlier work and adds important new materials. (Students liked to call the longer book "James" and the shorter one "Jimmy".) James''s new psychology moved away from discussions of the soul, morality, and logic, and focused instead on instinct, will, and the importance of action and habit. Passages comparing human consciousness to "a wonderful stream" inspired the "stream of consciousness" in the future work of Joyce, Woolf, and Gertrude Stein, a student of James''s at Harvard. "Human Immortality," which defends the possibility of life after death, and eight more of James''s most important essays round out this second volume devoted to a writer who was called by John Dewey "almost a Columbus of the inner world."

The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature is a book by Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James. It comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on natural theology, which were delivered at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland between 1901 and 1902.

With the clarity that William James deemed obligatory, Some Problems of Philosophy outlines his theory of perception. The early chapters expose the defects of intellectualism and monism and the advantages of empiricism and pluralism. The novelty that enters into concrete perceptual experience, and that is disallowed by the rationalizing intellect, suggests exciting possibilities. Denied any absolute truth in an ever-changing world, privy to only a piece of the truth at any given moment, the individual can, with faith and good will, help create order out of chaos. Some Problems of Philosophy, published posthumously, represents an important advance in William James''s thought

"This book provides a chronological presentation and explanation of letters by William James from 1893-1910. Readers of this book will have seen that the center of his interest had always been religious and philosophical"--Create. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).