Foreign Philosopher and psychologist

1. WILLIAM JAMES
January 11, 1842 in New York City
August 26, 1910, in Chocorua, New Hampshire.

2. INTRODUCTION
 William James is considered by many to be the most
insightful and stimulating of American philosophers,
as well as the second of the three great pragmatists
(the middle link between Charles Sanders
Peirce and John Dewey).
 As a professor of psychology and of philosophy at
Harvard University, he became the most famous living
American psychologist and later the most famous
living American philosopher of his time.
 Avoiding the logically tight systems typical of
European rationalists, such as the German idealists,
he cobbled together a psychology rich in philosophical
implications and a philosophy enriched by his
psychological expertise.

3.  More specifically, his theory of the self and
his view of human belief as oriented towards
conscious action raised issues that required
him to turn to philosophy.
 There he developed his pragmatic
epistemology, which considers the meaning of
ideas and the truth of beliefs not abstractly,
but in terms of the practical difference they
can make in people’s lives.
 He explored the implications of this theory in
areas of religious belief, metaphysics, human
freedom and moral values, and social
philosophy.

4.  His contributions in these areas included
critiques of long-standing philosophical
positions on such issues as freedom vs.
determinism, correspondence vs. coherence,
and dualism vs. materialism, as well as a
thorough analysis of a phenomenological
understanding of the self and consciousness,
a “forward-looking” conception of truth
(based on validation and revisable
experience), a thorough-going metaphysical
pluralism, and a commitment to a full view of
agency in connection with communal and
social concerns.

5.  Thus he created one of the last great
philosophical systems in Western
thought, even if he did not live quite
long enough to complete every aspect of
it. The combination of his provocative
ideas and his engaging writing style has
contributed to the enduring impact of
his work.

6. SPOUSE :
Alice Howe Gibbens
(m.1878)
CHILDREN:
Henry, William, Herman
Margaret Mary and Alexander

7. around 1858
He studied painting with William Morris
Hunt while the family was living in Newport,
Rhode Island,.
1861
enrolled at the Lawrence Scientific
School, at Harvard University where he
developed into such topics as chemistry and
physiology.
1864
study at Harvard Medical School,he
took a break from his education to join Louis
Agassiz's expedition to the Amazon basin.

8. 1866
James returned to Harvard and resumed his
medical classes. He was often haunted by an
assortment of ailments accompanied by depression
and suicidal thoughts. After a depressive collapse,
James left for two years and spent time in France
and Germany, studying with Helmholtz and learning of
the New Psychology.
1869
He received his doctorate, after earning his
medical degree, he decided not to practice medicine.
He eventually became a lecturer at Harvard
University. Initially a lecturer in physiology, he went
to teach psychology and philosophy.

9. ACHIEVEMENTS
1972
James was asked to teach physiology at Harvard.
He taught anatomy and physiology and spent the
rest of 1873 and 1874 recuperating in Europe,
primarily Italy. Slowly, he began infiltrating
physiological psychology into his courses at
Harvard,
1875
he began teaching psychology, beginning with
“The Relations between Physiology and
Psychology”. It has been said that James joked
that the first psychology lecture he ever heard
was his own.

10. The same year, he established the first
laboratory of experimental psychology in
the United States
1878
he signed a publishing contract with
Henry Holt and began working on his book
,The Principles of Psychology, during his
honeymoon .One year after the tragedy of
losing his son, he move to Cambridge.

11. In 1879, James began teaching
philosophy at Harvard, becoming an
assistant professor of philosophy the
next year.
He published “The Sentiment of
Rationality,” his first important article
in his new discipline. As he got deeper
into philosophy, he developed a negative
attitude towards psychology.

12. After becoming a full professor of philosophy in
1885 and of psychology in 1889, he published
his Principles of Psychology in 1890. It had taken
him close to twelve years to finish it, and, though
it would be extremely successful, he was
dissatisfied with it and disgusted with psychology
1886
James finished and published his most
renowned and influential book, The Principles of
Psychology, combining his ideas on psychology and
philosophy. The book was written with much
clarity and charm and vehemently disputed
Wundt’s view of psychology, more specifically

13. In 1897
James’s first philosophical book, The
Will to Believe and Other Essays in
Popular Philosophy, was published,
dedicated to Charles Sanders Peirce.
1898
he lectured on pragmatism in
“Philosophical Conceptions and Practical
Results.” He stated that humans were
practical beings and their mind is to be
used to adapt to the ways of the world

14. James also promoted Educational
Psychology. His lectures to Cambridge professors
were compiled and published in 1899, Talks to
Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of
Life’s Ideals. These lectures were used to train
teachers and professors throughout the nation for
thirty years after his publication
During the end of the turn of the century,
James was a member of the American Philosophical
Association and the American Psychological
Association.

15. He continued to lecture and publish
works based now primarily on philosophy and
religious ideas. His religious publications
included ten essays comprised in The Will to
Believe, discussing his philosophies and the
emotional risk of religion.
After receiving an honorary doctorate
from Harvard in 1903, James and his brother
embarked on a trip to the Mediterranean and
attended the Fifth International Congress of
Psychology in Rome. Like the United States,
all of Italy admired James.

16. 
James wrote considerably on the concept of 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.

James opposed the structuralist focus on introspection and
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.

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. Both James and
the Danish physiologist Carl Lange independently proposed the
theory.

17.  (1890) The Principles of Psychology. Classics
in the History of Psychology, an internet
resource developed by Christopher D. Green
of York University, Toronto, Ontario.
 (1897) The Will to Believe
 (1907) Pragmatism: A new name for some old
ways of thinking. New York: Longman Green
and Co.

18.  James became more interested in
philosophical issues as his career progressed.
 In 1902, he published The Varieties of
Religious Experience, which is considered to
be another one of his leading works.
 Pragmatism(1907) further explored his
philosophical beliefs.
 A Pluralistic Universe (1909) proved to be his
last major work to be published during his
lifetime.

19.  he receives an honorary doctorate
from Harvard in 1903

20.  As a professor of psychology and of philosophy at
Harvard University, he became the most famous
living American psychologist and later the most
famous living American philosopher of his time

21. THANKYOU !!!