Last Thursday was the 100th anniversary of the death of the American philosopher, William James. William was born in New York in 1842. In 1843 he was joined by a brother, Henry, now remembered as one of America’s finest novelists. Henry James’ reputation may overshadow his brother. However, William’s eventful life and positive and practical philosophy that urged “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact” should see him celebrated every day, not just on his centenary.
Supported by his eccentric father, a follower of the theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, William followed an eclectic path to philosophy. He studied painting in Rhode Island, science in Geneva and ventured up the Amazon in 1865. There he contracted a mild form of smallpox, just one instance of ill-health in a life plagued by physical and mental frailty. By 1869 he qualifies as a doctor, but never practices. In 1872 he starts teaching physiology at Harvard. In 1875 he turned to psychology and began the work he is remembered for.
The Principles of Psychology 1,500 pages were twelve years in the writing. There James described the world of a child’s mind “as one great blooming, buzzing, confusion”. He named this ebb and flow of ideas through our mind ‘The Stream of Thought’. James articulated that we do not just discover ourselves in reflection, but also create ourselves as we are dipped and immersed in this stream of thought.
He once remarked “There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.” To avoid this he preferred recording accounts and anecdotes of real experience, particularly divine experience in his famous The Varieties of Religious Experience. He made his subject not philosophy, but the human experience. It makes his writing vivid and alive, his wisdom human and approachable.
In his last years James’ developed the philosophy of pragmatism: that we should judge the truth of an idea by its usefulness. Introducing a collection of his essays he warned “between the opposite dangers of believing too little or believing too much.” before remarking that “To face such dangers is apparently our duty, and to hit the right channel between them is the measure of our wisdom as men.” It is an observation that is as useful and as wise today as it was a century ago.
Nick Southgate is a faculty member of The School of Life, and will be leading ‘How To Be Cool’ on 14 September.
This seems a summary of the usefulness of William James to The School of Life; it makes it all seem like something you really would do well to understand, if only you could, like these really clever people in the school of life do! It hints that William James might have written a lot of things that would be useful for you to know - but you can't - because you're not (yet) a part of the school of life. It would be much more useful if it told you something about what The Varieties of Religious Experience is about - for example....and what a great great book that is - whether you do or do not want ever to have any kind of religious experience, ever. But "The School of life" seems to have as its agenda to instill the notion that no one knows anything into the populace - and then to make them frightened that others - somewhere in London - know more. Which is a silly notion to breed. It's a shame for William James that this nonsense has been written. Henry also would hate it.
Posted by: sheena Joughin | September 04, 2010 at 01:21 AM