First, I must confess that William James is my personal favorite.  He used philosophy to deal with life and brings many insights to it.  He's generally considered the greatest American philosopher.  I have read all his books and so I cover him in more detail with book by book highlights.  I hope it's not too much.

 

James is all about epistemology. He defines this area with three related branches: pragmatism, radical empiricism and pluralism. Pragmatism seems to work as a framework for the other two but could not necessarily be assumed. James does provide a moral framework which fits in with his epistemology.  His metaphysics is scant but seems to rely on “pure experience” so I think it is safe to rely on radical empiricism here.

Pragmatism (Books: Pragmatism and The Meaning of Truth)

·        An idea’s importance lies in its value to us. It must be serviceable to us, i.e. work in experience.

 

·        What is important to us is relative, i.e. depends on the context we find ourselves in and the focus of our needs.  A lost man cares most about what will get him home but the housewife in the market is concerned with the best price.  Selectivity and goal seeking are volitional.

 

·        Truth is an attribute of an idea, i.e. it matches with experience. Ultimately, something we hold as true must come to bear in experience where it shows its value. 

 

·        If there is no practical difference between two competing ideas, then don’t worry about which is right.  If one person tells you there are 3 billion grains of sand on the beach and another that there are 3.256 billion grains of sand, who cares? The truth here is irrelevant. Note: Practical is used in broad term. If any experience favors one idea over the other, then that would be the one to go with.

 

·        Empirical evidence, which includes all experience, is the basis upon which we determine what to believe.  We do not dismiss the religious conversion experience or the experience of the scientist who observes a new phenomena.  We take our facts where we find them and no experience is under an obligation to follow the dictates of science. (Personal Note: While I agree with this, I do need to qualify it. Some experiences cannot be explained rationally. While I do not doubt the experience, I do doubt the conclusion one may reach about it. A psychosomatic cause may be the true reason or a number of other things.  However, human knowledge is not complete and some things remained unexplained.  Unexplained is just that and rash conclusions without empirical evidence to support it, should be dismissed.) 

 

·         Truth is discovered by events as experience makes corrections.

 

·        People have an integrated pool of ideas like a pot simmering of various ingredients.  One does not pour out the soup and recreate it for each new idea. Rather the new element is added in, some others changed or removed and the simmering continues.  Growth of knowledge is a slow process of assimilation. We adopt as true those ideas that match with our experience and with our previous ideas most closely. We change and throw out as little as possible to account for new experiences.

 

·         Ideas that do not help us should be avoided and ones that do help should be exulted. 

 

·         Concepts are representations of ideas we use to understand the world but they are not themselves reality nor are they copies of reality. Ideas lead us to reality. There is an almost dualistic nature here in that we have active experience and ideas that can lead us to the object of experience. We know which is which when we see it. We think of Sparky, our cute puppy, and throw the stick and Sparky jumps out from behind a tree and chases the stick. Now we see the little fur ball in front of us but before had only the concept of him in our minds that led us to him.

 

·        In attack on David Hume, man is not a passive mirror, which is impinged upon by sensations. Man chooses on what he will focus, what he wants and uses reason to determine what is true.

 

·        Free will is at work at least to some degree. Determinism does not match with experience and is not useful. There is no need to work at anything under determinism so this idea is rejected.

 Radical Empiricism (Book: Essays on Radical Empiricism)

 

·        Anything that figures into human experience must be counted to exist and nothing outside human experience should be counted to exist. “Admit nothing not experienced and deny nothing experienced.”  Connections and disjunctions are part of the experience. In the end, all ideas must contend in the court of man’s highest interest

 

·        If an idea works within the framework of human experience then it will be deemed true. Ideas are there to serve our interests and no creature will survive long whose interests are not being served. A practical difference in ideas is the key. It’s not really just a crude sort of working but which idea works best and can be empirically verified.  Science does this all the time when they seek means to verify their theories: Einstein – black holes, GPS calculations, time experiments, Galileo – calculations matched observations, Quantum Physics – always searching for the particle or phenomena that will prove the theory and reconcile itself to macro physics.

 

·        Consciousness does not exist as an entity but as a function of the mind. Its purpose is to focus on serving our needs, which includes selectivity of perceptions. 

 

·        Consciousness is a stream constantly moving and changing. You can never repeat the same conscious state. You cannot  put your foot in the same river twice.  Experiences are fluid and continuous. We are part of the experience, not some outside observer.

 

·        External world applies a myriad of sensations on us all the time. The mind selects out of this what is relevant and organizes what it takes into concepts making the world organized to the individual.James talks about it making us more “at home” in the world.

 

·        We find experience in the particulars, i.e. in the parts not in the rationalist sense of the “whole”.  There is no whole to experience. Some things fit together and some don’t. The relation of objects to each other is variable. 

 

·        Cycle of experience: set goal, pursue against resistance, achieve or fail. All the while we sense our movement.

 

·        Two types of experience: the perception of the object (concrete) and the idea of the object (abstract). Both are real objects of experience and we can tell the concrete by its actual effects, i.e. the real fire burns. The idea of the object leads us to the object.

 

·        A real cause is what we experience it as. We seek the effect of our actions though we do not always know the ultimate effect therein.

Pluralism (Book: A Pluralistic Universe)

 

·        We will never get the complete picture or the last word on anything significant in reality.  This is because there will always be more to know, different ways of viewing a thing, and things are constantly changing.  We do the best we can while understanding this.

 

·        Pluralism for James is not relativism. Not all ideas are equally valid. Rather there are multiple ways to correctly perceive a given object so ideas do not need to always compete.  Some ideas are truly based on perspective such as cold vs. hot. Others are more empirical such as light is a wave and light is a particle.

 

·        Truths appeal to individuals differently and so an idea that is “live” for one can be “dead” for another. For example, to an atheist, the idea of Christ is a non-starter while to a Christian, Hinduism has no appeal.  The point is to realize that what works for one may not work for another and there is no point in trying to force it otherwise. This is just the way people work. 

 

 

Religion (Books: The Varieties of Religious Experience & The Will to Believe)

 

·        Religion can have practical value and fit in with Pragmatism. In fact, radical empiricism requires all human experience to be recognized including religious.  One person can not judge the validity of what lies behind another’s claims. If they think there is enough verification to believe then they have the right to do so just as I have the right to do what my nature requires. 

 

·        Two forms of religious experience are dealt with. One, the personal religious experience and the other, the subdued, faithful follower or church member.  Both are valid. The religious experiences are fairly rare and drive the person to powerful convictions. The common faith follower gains more pragmatic value from their faith.

 

·        The universe in always in a state of flux, i.e. moving and changing. It is not some block that one can understand once and for all. There are always new perspectives and different parts to look at.

 

 

Morality/Ethics (Book: Some Problems in Philosophy)

 

·        First rule is that ethics must serve the needs of the individual and society.  If it undermines this, then something is wrong. This is similar to the Utilitarian goal of greatest benefit (happiness) but this is geared more towards survival and success.

 

·        In moral decisions we must weigh the claims against us to act in a given way. There are varying degrees of such claims. For example, my children have a strong claim for me to act in ways that further their interest and there is a strong responsibility here.  However, even animals have a certain claim that they be treated humanely. Some claims do not have such a clear claimant but must be taken into account. For example, society lays claim on our behavior and we have to consider our own moral value system.  For example, even if no one lays claim on us not to lie in a situation, we need to take into account our own internal claim against such behavior. To sum up James, my internal need for right (good) makes a valid demand which cannot be trumped by others.

 

“Whether the purely human system can gratify the philosopher’s demand as well as the other is a different question, which we ourselves must answer ere we close.”

 

“Rules are made for man, not man made for rules.”

 

“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; therefore, choose life that thou may live,”

 J. Royce

 

·        Ethics is pluralistic but not relativistic. In other words, the context and perspective must be taken into account and no two people will yield the same moral philosophy but we ARE responsible for the moral decisions we make. They are an act of the WILL.  James seems to feel there is a sort of range of behavior within which we act and certain heinous acts will yield an automatic revulsion. For example, a horrible murder will evoke a negative feeling in virtually everyone. Cultural differences are allowed for.

 

·        Against the moral universalists, James argued there is no one standard against which all can be measured.  Kantian morality and the like are rejected as unnatural.

Psychology (Book: Principles of Psychology Volumes 1 & 2)

 

·        Emotions – Grounded in physiological activities: the sweat, the pounding heart, the tight chest, etc.  Take away these and you lose the emotion. 

 

·        Psychologist’s Fallacy – When you set out to prove an idea about a phenomena, the method of inquiry is often defined in such a way as to only reveal the specific item you seek to the exclusion of many other things. You then take this one item and declare it the last word on the phenomena even if the circumstances you contrived never actually occur in the real world. 

 

·        Type of image memory: visual, sound, words, etc.

 

·        The Will and Selectivity. We decide on what we will do and what to select from sensations. In other words we focus our being volitionally towards our ends.

 

·        Self awareness pre-requisite for knowledge.

 

·        In regards to the school of association: Thoughts are owned and they are coordinated towards a volitional end. I seek out from sensations things I can use to help me and discard what I cannot use.  The exceptional qualities that make a difference to me will draw my attention. One blade of grass will not be singled out even if it is taller than the others but among a group of animals, I quickly identify the sharp toothed lion.  The hunter scans for the animal that will make a fitting meal.

 

·        Stream of Consciousness - “The transition between the thought of one object and the thought of another is no more a break in the thought than a joint in bamboo is a break in the wood.” The transition is part of the consciousness.

 

·        Because experiences are continuous, we cannot capture them for analysis, i.e. like a snowflake melting in our hand, the experience moves on and before you can even acknowledge “now”, it is past.

 

·        “Namelessness is compatible with existence.”  Objects do not inherently have our ideas, rather we apply the organizing concepts to our experiences. James’ example: The crab might rebuke you if you called him a crustacean.

 

·        James’ theory of Time Relativity, i.e. emotional state effects perception of time. To live eternally (almost), just be in a continuous state of suffering.

 

·        We use heuristics such as laws of physics and general principles because they are quite serviceable to our existence. They simplify things so we can proceed expediently. (Note: Danger in this also if we use generalizations to zealously).

 

·        An object to us is it’s entire set of relations in our mind – a mental cluster.

 

·         Emotions are like a sense that aids survival and actually are central to our drive to live.  They are often ahead of the intellect in informing us of things such as danger. 

 

·        Discrimination of differences and similarities, i.e. comparison, is a central part of  our cognitive ability. Our needs determine what items of interest are entered into the comparison. We notice the kitty is in fact a tiger and quickly climb the tree.

 

·        Memory is needed for cognitive function in many ways including basic recognition and use of concepts and continuity of thought. James did study on various types of “image” memories from photographic to sound image, etc.  Different people tend to exhibit tendency towards one or another type.

 

·        Certain intrinsic knowledge is available to the individual such as time and space.  This is similar to Kant’s a priori but James ties it closer to Darwinism with the notion that you need these things just to get the game going. Such knowledge does not extend into the realm of pure reason as it did for Kant.