Questions tagged [william-james]
10 questions
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How can a stream of thoughts and perceptions have freewill?
William James believed that there was no central entity or ego that embodied the "I" in "I feel" or "I think". That the continuous stream of thoughts and sensations generated the illusion of their being a central entity doing the thinking and…
Alexander S King
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What did William James mean by metaphysics being "an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly"?
In the Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 William James said the following:
“Metaphysics means nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly. The fundamental conceptions of psychology are practically very clear to us, but theoretically…
user37981
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Does consciousness exist?
I am not the first to ask that question. There is at least the article written by William James with that very same title in:
The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. 1,
No. 18 (Sep. 1, 1904), 477-491.
I will not…
Baby Boy
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William James' definition of truth and rightheousness
In "The Meaning of Truth", William James advances the following:
"The true is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as the right is only the expedient in the way of our behaving"
What does he convey by this? What would be the…
Incognito
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What makes a relation 'satisfactory' under William James's pragmatist account of truth?
William James wrote that "Ideas ... become true just in so far as they help us to get into satisfactory relations with other parts of experience" (James 1907).
What makes any given relation more 'satisfactory' then another? It seems that this…
Esse
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William James, Biography
I am writing a report on William James, and I need the age that James started reading philosophy for the first time. Can anyone help?
user16888
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What does William James mean here by representing the knowing in advance?
Let my reader suppose himself to constitute for a time all the reality
there is in the universe, and then to receive the announcement that
another being is to be created who shall know him truly. How will he
represent the knowing in…
tryingtobeastoic
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What is a "solving name" as mentioned by William James?
Metaphysics has usually followed a very primitive kind of quest. You
know how men have always hankered after unlawful magic, and you know
what a great part in magic words have always played. If you have his
name, or the formula of incantation that…
tryingtobeastoic
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William James on mathematical conceptions not related to perceptions?
I'm studying William James. I'm mainly interested in his Radical Empiricism and Pluralism. I really like his views but I need some clarification on what is his position on conceptions that are not clearly related to perceptions.
For example consider…
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In what ways were the philosophies of William James and Kierkegaard similar?
Especially with regards to the justification of having religious belief- were they both fideists?
Apophenia Overload
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