New Releases by William James

William James, the radical modern philosopher and father of American psychology, found habit and will to be the secret of a good life. He elaborated this discovery into a philosophy of life that runs through his many scintillating writings, ranging from psychology and religion to pragmatism and war. Always he urged people to cultivate habits of mind---especially habits of will, including the power to break bad habits---that give us self-mastery. alert us to truth, equip us to act, and lend zest to life. In the extensive introduction James Sloan Allen shows how William James came to his philosophy of life and how he played it out in ideas and works that have immediate value today. In the selections that are included in the book, we see William James weaving his philosophy through classic writings on habit and its uses, consciousness and the discipline of will, the efficacy of belief and clues to morality, the truths of experience, and the strenuous life and its rewards.

High quality reprint of Principles Of Psychology - Volume 1 by William James.

This classic book, written by a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, discusses some issues that are essential to people interested in psychology concerning religion.

A selection of seventeen essays from the writings of pioneering American psychologist/philosopher William James that provide insight into his thinking on emotion, war, habit, determinism, religion, and other topics.

Why is real-world experience vital to a mature appreciation of any philosophical system? Why is the search for objective truth a trickier proposition than it seems at first glance? American psychologist and philosopher WILLIAM JAMES (18421910), brother of novelist Henry James, was a groundbreaking researcher at Harvard University, author of such works as Principles of Psychology (1890) and The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902), and one of the most influential academics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here, in a series of essays first published in book form in 1909, and considered a sequel to his series of lectures collected in Pragmatism (also available from Cosimo), James explores these questions as he discusses: [ the function of cognition [ humanism and truth [ the relation between knower and known [ the essence of humanism [ the meaning of the word truth [ the absolute and strenuous life [ and more.

William James, a member of America''s most illustrious intellectual family, is widely acclaimed as the country''s foremost philosopher, the first of its psychologists, and a champion of religious pluralism. As the apostle of pragmatism, his influence on American thought is as strong now as it has ever been. James''s emphasis on the creative power of faith, will, and action, his opening up of philosophy to the fresh air of ordinary experience, his fascination with alternative forms of belief and states of consciousness, and his impatience with dogmas of any kind--all make him a defender of individual experience, and earn him a place beside Emerson and Whitman as an exponent of American democratic culture. In this volume are the brilliant, engagingly written works of James''s early and middle years. The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy advances the liberating argument that each of us has the right to believe in hypotheses that are not susceptible to proof and that such beliefs might actually change the world. The conversational style of these essays reflects their origin in public lectures, as well as James''s conviction that truth can be discovered as much in the course of everyday life as in the activities of science or of philosophical speculation. Talks to Teachers and to Students, also drawn from lectures, helped transform the emerging science of education. Here James applies his new psychology to classroom theory and conduct, especially for the primary grades. This immensely influential book has never gone out of print. It emphasizes the role in learning of instinct, play, and habit, along with the importance of engaging the voluntary interests of students. James''s warm and sympathetic nature informs his treatment of children, who can best be taught by those who respect the child''s autonomy and who avoid what he calls "hammering in." Psychology: Briefer Course is far more than a shortened version of his monumental Principles of Psychology. It significantly revises parts of the earlier work and adds important new materials. (Students liked to call the longer book "James" and the shorter one "Jimmy".) James''s new psychology moved away from discussions of the soul, morality, and logic, and focused instead on instinct, will, and the importance of action and habit. Passages comparing human consciousness to "a wonderful stream" inspired the "stream of consciousness" in the future work of Joyce, Woolf, and Gertrude Stein, a student of James''s at Harvard. "Human Immortality," which defends the possibility of life after death, and eight more of James''s most important essays round out this second volume devoted to a writer who was called by John Dewey "almost a Columbus of the inner world."

The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature is a book by Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James. It comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on natural theology, which were delivered at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland between 1901 and 1902.

Despite the modesty of its title, the publication of this book in 1899 was a significant event. It marked the first application of the relatively new discipline of psychology, and specifically of James''s theses in The Principles of Psychology, to educational theory and classroom practice. The book went through twelve printings in as many years and has never been out of print. Among its innovative features were James''s maxims "No reception without reaction" and "No impression without expression"; a new emphasis on the biology of behavior and on the role of instincts; and discussions of the relevance to elementary school education of what is known about will, attention, memory, apperception, and the association of ideas. Appended to the fifteen talks to schoolteachers were three talks to college students, as pertinent today as when they were written: "The Gospel of Relaxation," "On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings," and "What Makes a Life Significant?"

"This book provides a chronological presentation and explanation of letters by William James from 1893-1910. Readers of this book will have seen that the center of his interest had always been religious and philosophical"--Create. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).