[FJK]∎ PDF Free Some Problems of Philosophy Illustrated edition by William James Timeless Books Health Fitness Dieting eBooks

Some Problems of Philosophy Illustrated edition by William James Timeless Books Health Fitness Dieting eBooks

Download As PDF : Some Problems of Philosophy Illustrated edition by William James Timeless Books Health Fitness Dieting eBooks

The book has an active table of contents for readers to access each chapter.

Some Problems of Philosophy by William James, one of the greatest American psychologists, was widely acclaimed and it was widely used by students of psychology.

William James influences on Psychology theory are as the follows

1) Pragmatism
According to pragmatism, the truth of an idea can never be proven. James proposed we instead focus on what he called the "cash value," or usefulness, of an idea.

2) Functionalism
James opposed breaking down mental events to the smallest elements. Instead, James focused on the wholeness of an event, taking into the impact of the environment on behavior.

3) James-Lange Theory of Emotion
The James-Lange theory of emotion proposes that an event triggers a physiological reaction, which we then interpret. According to this theory, emotions are caused by our interpretations of these physiological reactions.

In addition to his influence on Psychology, William James' discussion of choice and rationality, as well as self-interest, made significant contributions to areas of concern in modern economic theory. Each of these themes is connected with aspects of relevant economic literature and is the contribution of James' pragmatism to economic theory.

This is a must read book for the readers who are interested in researching modern psychology and its influence on economy.

Some Problems of Philosophy Illustrated edition by William James Timeless Books Health Fitness Dieting eBooks

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Product details File Size 1345 KB Print Length 252 pages Publisher www.WealthOfNation.com (September 25, 2013) Publication Date September 25, 2013 Language English ASIN B00FG5P6I0

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Some Problems of Philosophy Illustrated edition by William James Timeless Books Health Fitness Dieting eBooks Reviews

Throughout his life, William James had the ambition to write a book presenting his philosophy in systematic form. He alluded to this goal repeatedly in his published books of philosophy, particularly the "Varieties of Religious Experience." But, as was the "Varieties", James other philosophical works such as "Pragmatism" and "A Pluralistic Universe" consisted of lectures while "The Meaning of Truth" consisted of a collection of essays, most of which had earlier been published separately.

Late in his life, James tried to realize his project of giving an exposition of his philosophy in his final book, "Some Problems of Philosophy" which is aptly subtitled "A Beginning of an Introduction to Philosophy". James began writing this book in 1909, but illness slowed and ultimately stopped his work well before it could be completed. Before his death in 1911, James authorized the publication of what he had written with the note "Say that I hoped by it to round out my system, which now is too much like an arch built only on one side."

The book James left is a mixture, with some sections that are suitable for a beginner in philosophy and with other sections that are highly technical. The book is of interest because James clearly wanted to integrate the two primary philosophical ideas developed in his earlier works pragmatism and radical empiricism.

James introduces pragmatism in chapter IV of "Some Problems in Philosophy" in discussing the relationship between perceptual and conceptual knowledge, where he states that "the pragmatic rule is that the meaning of a concept may always be found, if not in some sensible particular which it directly designates, then in some particular difference in the course of human experience which its being true will make." In evaluating the truth of falsity of a concept, for James, the important consideration is the use of the concept and the difference it makes in understanding experience. If the concept is of no use, it is likely empty. James developed his theory of pragmatism at length in his books "Pragmatism" and "The Meaning of Truth."

James introduces his discussion of radical empiricism, or pluralism, in chapter V of "Some Problems of Philosopy" titled "Precept and Concept -- The Abuse of Concepts." Pluralism became increasingly important to James as he developed his philosophy and in a work such as "A Pluralistic Universe" it greatly overshadows pragmatism and may be inconsistent with it. James argues against monism and rationalism, finding them "forever inadequate to the fulness of the reality to be known." He maintains that concepts, while useful in understanding reality for specific purposes, ultimately distort and limit its nature. Reality for James is found in the experiential flow -- the stream of consciousness of immediate experience -- rather than in any conceptual system engrafted upon it. His teaching on this point was heavily influenced by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, and it also bears similarity to the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl.

In the remainder of "Some Problems of Philosophy", James expounds upon the significance of his radical empiricism, as he explores problems of causation, chance, and activity. The rationalistic, scientific universe is, for James, a deterministic, fatalistic universe which leaves no room for creativity or for growth. Interestingly, James's discussion of these issues includes some rather technical treatments of the mathematical philosophy being developed by Bertrand Russel and others. James argues that causation, as explained by Hume and Kant, is a conceptual overlay on experience which does not explain causation as an activity analogous to human will. He suggests, as he did in "A Pluralistic Universe" a theory of panpsychism, to explain the nature of causation and free activity. He alludes to the problem of relating the activity of the will to the physiological activity of the brain (the "mind-body" problem) but, unfortunately, at this point the book abrubtly ends. The book closes with a brief appendix "Faith and the Right to Believe" drawn from the concluding chapter of "A Pluralistic Universe" and alluding to James's early essay "The Will to Believe".

"Some Problems of Philosophy" does not succeed in becoming the systematic exposition of his thought that James hoped it would be. I don't think it adequately integrates pragmatism and radical empiricism. On James's own account, its treatment of both doctrines is sketchy. But the book is well worth reading for its hints of the direction in which James's thought was going. Thus, this book will be of most interest to those readers with a good grasp of James's thought as developed in the "Varieties", "Pragmatism", "A Pluralistic Universe" and the essays.

Robin Friedman
William James (1842-1910) was an American philosopher (noted for his influence on Pragmatism) and psychologist (the first educator to offer a psychology course in the U.S.; see his Principles of Psychology); he was also the brother of the novelist Henry James. He wrote many other books, such as Pragmatism and The Meaning of Truth,The Will to Believe,Essays in Radical Empiricism,The Varieties of Religious Experience,Moral Equivalent of War and Other Essays,The Selected Letters of William James, etc.

He began working on this book in 1909, when he was in ill health, and it was first published posthumously, in an incomplete form.

He states in the first chapter, "The extraordinary progress of the last three hundred years is due to a rather sudden finding of the way in which a certain order of questions ought to be attacked, questions admitting of mathematical treatment. But to assume therefore, that the only possible philosophy must be mechanical and mathematical, and to disparage all enquiry into the other sorts of question, is to forget the extreme diversity of aspects under which reality undoubtedly exists. To the spiritual questions the proper avenues of philosophic approach will also undoubtedly be found." (Pg. 23-24)

He points out, "The perceptual flux as such... MEANS nothing, and is but what it immediately is... it is always a much-at-once, and contains innumerable aspects and characters which conception can pick out, isolate, and thereafter always intend... Yet all these parts leave its unity unbroken. Its boundaries are no more distinct then are those of the field of vision. Boundaries are things that intervene; but here nothing intervenes save parts of the perceptual flux itself, and these are overflowed by what they separate, so that whatever we distinguish and isolate conceptually is found perceptually to telescope and compenetrate and diffuse into its neighbors. If my reader can... lapse back into his immediate sensible life at this very moment, he will find it to be what someone has called a big blooming buzzing confusion, as free from contradiction in its `much-at-onceness' as it is all alive and evidently there." (Pg. 49-50) He adds, "The intellectual life of man consists almost wholly in his substitution of a conceptual order for the perceptual order in which his experience originally comes." (Pg. 50-51)

He suggests, "the more important part of [a concept's] significance may naturally be held to be the consequences to which it leads... This consideration has led to a method of interpreting concepts to which I shall give the name The Pragmatic Rule. The pragmatic rule is that the meaning of a concept may always be found, if not in some sensible particular which it directly designates, then in some particular difference in the course of human experience which its being true will make. Test every concept by the question, `What sensible difference to anybody will its truth make?' and you are in the best possible position for understanding what it means and for discussing it importance." (Pg. 59-60)

He observes, "Our meanings can be the same as often as we intend to have them so, quite irrespective of whether what is meant be a physical possibility or not. Half the ideas we make use of are of impossible or problematic things---zeroes, infinities, fourth dimensions, limits of ideal perfection, forces, relations sundered from their terms, or terms defined only conceptually, by their relations to other terms which may be equally fictitious." (Pg. 105)

He says, "The question of being ...may here be left an open question... These results are what the Oneness of the Universe is `known-as.' They ARE the oneness, pragmatically considered. A world coherent in any of these ways would be no chaos, but a universe of such and such a grade... Such is the 'cash-value' of the world's unity, empirically realized. Its total unity is the sum of all the partial unities. It consists of them and follows upon them." (Pg. 132-133)

He stated in an Appendix which James requested to be appended to the book, "The following steps may be called the `faith-ladder' 1.There is nothing absurd in a certain view of the world being true, nothing self-contradictory. 2. It MIGHT have been true under certain conditions. 3. It MAY be true, even now. 4. It is FIT to be true. 5. It OUGHT to be true. 6. It MUST be true. 7. It SHALL be true, at any rate true for me. Obviously this is no intellectual chain of inferences, like the sorites of the logic-books. Yet it is a slope of good-will on which in the larger questions of life men habitually live." (Pg. 224)

Although incomplete, what James DID write constitutes an excellent introduction to philosophy, as James conceived it.
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