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Philosopher

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William James

1842–1910 · Pragmatism · Modern

William James, psychologist and philosopher, helped found pragmatism in its American form: trace the meaning of an idea through the difference it makes in experience. He was trained as a physician, taught at Harvard, and wrote The Principles of Psychology as a science that still reads as literature. The stream of thought is his attack on a mind chopped into bits.

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The art of knowing what to overlook belongs to the same psychology of attention. Pragmatism, the 1907 lectures, states Peirce's maxim in James's own voice and then, in the lecture on truth, says the true is the expedient in the way of our thinking. He immediately glosses expedient as the long run and the whole, not this afternoon's convenience.

Drop the gloss and you have the caricature. The Varieties of Religious Experience takes conversion and saintliness as phenomena to be described, not as errors to be sneered out of the room. He is clearer than his reputation for muddle, and more careful than the word expedient sounds. A sentence of his is usually attached to a lecture. The lecture is the unit.

Start here

Pragmatism, lectures 2 and 6, and chapter 9 of The Principles of Psychology.

The lectures are spoken English and show the gloss he puts on his own shock. The stream chapter stops the metaphor being only a literary brand.

Quotations

“There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference elsewhere.”

William James · Pragmatism

knowledgemeaningmind
Well attested
Meaning & application
“Consciousness does not appear to itself chopped up in bits. It is nothing jointed; it flows. A 'river' or a 'stream' are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described.”

William James · Pragmatism

mindselfknowledge
Well attested
Meaning & application
“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”

William James · Pragmatism

meaningmindresilience
Well attested
Meaning & application

Key ideas

  • Stream

    Consciousness flows. The bits are what reflection makes afterwards.

  • Pragmatic maxim

    A difference that makes no difference elsewhere is an idle distinction.

  • Truth

    What works in the long run of experience. 'Expedient' is his provocative noun, with a gloss.

  • Will to believe

    A separate essay about options that cannot wait. Not the same claim as the truth lecture.

Major works

  • The Principles of Psychology (1890)

    Stream of thought, habit, attention, the art of overlooking.

  • The Will to Believe (1897)

    The essay of that title is one piece, not the whole book.

  • The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)

    Religious experience described, not debunked.

  • Pragmatism (1907)

    Lectures. Method in lecture 2, truth in lecture 6.

Influences

Influenced

Common misreadings

  • 'Expedient' does not mean convenient this afternoon. He says the long run and the whole.
  • The stream is not a denial of attention. Selection cuts the stream. It does not replace it.
  • Lecture 2 and lecture 6 are not the same sentence. One is a method. One is a theory of truth.

Famous lines William James never said

None of the lines this library files for William James is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

FAQ

What is the best book to start with?

Pragmatism, lectures 2 and 6, and chapter 9 of The Principles of Psychology. The lectures are spoken English and show the gloss he puts on his own shock. The stream chapter stops the metaphor being only a literary brand.

What is the most famous quote?

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for William James that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” (The Principles of Psychology, volume 2, Well attested).

What is the most misquoted line?

None of the lines this library files for William James is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Stream: Consciousness flows. The bits are what reflection makes afterwards.