Some Problems of Philosophy - Softcover

James, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1406731005 ISBN 13: 9781406731002

Publisher: Hesperides Press, 2006

Synopsis

This book contains William James’s 1912 treatise, "Some Problems with Philosophy". It was the result of his life-long ambition to write a book presenting his philosophy in systematic form. However, due to his ill health and subsequent demise, he was never able to complete it, and what had been written was authorised to be published whilst James still had the ability to do so. Aptly subtitled "A Beginning of an Introduction to Philosophy", the remaining text is a mixture containing both sections suitable for beginners and some that are decidedly more technical. A fascinating attempt at the integration of James’s primary philosophical ideas of pragmatism and radical empiricism, this vintage book will interest both aspiring students of philosophy and collectors of James’s seminal work. William James was an esteemed researcher at Harvard University and one of the most seminal thinkers of the nineteenth century. His other notable works include: "Human Immortality" (1898) and "The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature" (1902). This book was originally published in 1912. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly hard to come by and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

About this title

Review:

"Philosophy, beginning in wonder, as Plato and Aristotle said, is able to fancy everything different from what it is. It sees the familiar as if it were strange, and the strange as if it were familiar. It can take things up and lay them down again. Its mind is full of air that plays round every subject. It rouses us from our native dogmatic slumber and breaks up our caked prejudices. Historically it has always been a sort of fecundation of four different human interests, science, poetry, religion, and logic, by one another. It has sought by hard reasoning for results emotionally valuable. To have some contact with it, to catch its influence, is thus good for both literary and scientific students. By its poetry it appeals to literary minds; but its logic stiffens them up and remedies their softness. By its logic it appeals to the scientific; but softens them by its other aspects, and saves them from too dry a technicality. Both types of student ought to get from philosophy a livelier spirit, more air, more mental background."―William James, Some Problems of Philosophy (William James)

From the Back Cover:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hesperides Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1406731005
• ISBN 13: 9781406731002
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250