scholarly journals WILLIAM JAMES AND THE ROLE OF MYSTICISM IN RELIGION

Manuscrito ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-488
Author(s):  
RODRIGO BENEVIDES B. G.
Keyword(s):  
William James

The Meaning of the Concept of “Spiritual Energy” in the Philosophy of William James and Henry Bergson

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Maria M. Kuznetsova
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
William James ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Creative Evolution ◽  
Spiritual Energy ◽  
Spiritual Reality ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The article examines the philosophy of Henri Bergson and William James as independent doctrines aimed at rational comprehension of spiritual reality. The doctrines imply the paramount importance of consciousness, the need for continuous spiritual development, the expansion of experience and perception. The study highlights the fundamental role of spiritual energy for individual and universal evolution, which likens these doctrines to the ancient Eastern teaching as well as to Platonism in Western philosophy. The term “spiritual energy” is used by Bergson and James all the way through their creative career, and therefore this concept should considered in the examination of their solution to the most important philosophical and scientific issues, such as the relationship of matter and spirit, consciousness and brain, cognition, free will, etc. The “radical empiricism” of William James and the “creative evolution” of Henry Bergson should be viewed as conceptions that based on peacemaking goals, because they are aimed at reconciling faith and facts, science and religion through the organic synthesis of sensory and spiritual levels of experience. Although there is a number of modern scientific discoveries that were foreseen by philosophical ideas of Bergson and James, both philosophers advocate for the artificial limitation of the sphere of experimental methods in science. They call not to limit ourselves to the usual intellectual schemes of reality comprehension, but attempt to touch the “living” reality, which presupposes an increase in the intensity of attention and will, but finally brings us closer to freedom.

Psychology and Philosophy in the Work of William James

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Leary
Keyword(s):  
William James ◽  
Early Years

This chapter reviews the relations between psychology and philosophy in the work of William James. Though initially committed to limiting the role of philosophy in his psychological work, James eventually realized that an admixture of philosophy and psychology would not spoil “two good things,” as he had feared, and that it was in any case unavoidable. In fact, many of the basic pillars of his psychology depend upon philosophical distinctions, and many of the premises of his philosophy are drawn from psychological analyses. And while James focused more on psychology in his early years and more on philosophy toward the end of his life, his philosophical interests preceded his study of psychology, and his psychological interests extended throughout his career. An excursus treating James’s views on logic and the nonlogical, toward the end of the chapter, underscores the primacy of experience over analysis in James’s thought, both in psychology and philosophy.

John Dewey’s Debt to William James

2018 ◽  
pp. 614-628
Author(s):  
James Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
William James ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pragmatic Account ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter discusses the relationship of William James (1842–1910) and John Dewey (1859–1952). In particular, it attempts to tease out the ways in which Dewey’s thought drew upon ideas presented earlier by James. Among the Jamesian themes that appear in Dewey’s work are Dewey’s melioristic, pragmatic account of social practice; his emphasis upon the importance of habits in organized human life; his presentation of the role of philosophy as a means of improving daily life; his recognition of the social nature of the self; and his call for a rejection of religious traditions and institutions in favor of an emphasis upon religious experience. Clarifying Dewey’s relationship with James should in no way lessen the value of Dewey’s thought. Rather, it makes clearer the continuities that existed between these two pragmatic thinkers.

Human Nature and Economic Institutions: Instinct Psychology, Behaviorism, and the Development of American Institutionalism

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pier Francesco Asso ◽  
Luca Fiorito
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
United States ◽  
William James ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Analysis ◽  
Thorstein Veblen ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

Recent articles have explored from different perspectives the psychological foundations of American institutionalism from its beginning to the interwar years (Hodgson 1999; Lewin 1996; Rutherford 2000a, 2000b; Asso and Fiorito 2003). Other authors had previously dwelled upon the same topic in their writings on the originsand development of the social sciences in the United States (Curti 1980; Degler 1991; Ross 1991). All have a common starting point: the emergence during the second half of the nineteenth century of instinct-based theories of human agency. Although various thinkers had already acknowledged the role of impulses and proclivities, it was not until Darwin's introduction of biological explanations into behavioral analysis that instincts entered the rhetoric of the social sciences in a systematic way (Hodgson 1999; Degler 1991). William James, William McDougall, and C. Lloyd Morgan gave instinct theory its greatest refinement, soon stimulating its adoption by those economists who were looking for a viable alternative to hedonism. At the beginning of the century, early institutionalists like Thorstein Veblen, Robert F. Hoxie, Wesley C. Mitchell, and Carleton Parker employed instinct theory in their analysis of economic behavior. Their attention wasdrawn by the multiple layers of interaction between instinctive motivation and intentional economic behavior. Debates on the role of instinctsin economicswere not confined to the different souls of American Institutionalism, and many more “orthodox” figures, like Irving Fisher or Frank Taussig, actively participated.

William James and the Role of Psychology in Philosophy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saulo de Freitas Araujo ◽  
Lisa M. Osbeck
Keyword(s):  
William James ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Radical Empiricism ◽  
First Case ◽  
Active Nature ◽  
Cross Fertilization

James’s work is admittedly cross-disciplinary to the extent that it defies traditional scholarly boundaries. One of the best examples is the cross-fertilization between his philosophical and psychological ideas, although the precise relation between them is not easy to frame. Notwithstanding this difficulty, one can say that James’s early psychology, developed between the 1870s and 1880s, illuminates many aspects of his later philosophical positions, including pragmatism, radical empiricism, and pluralism. First, James defends the teleological nature of mind, which is driven by subjective interests and goals that cannot be explained by the immediate interchange with the external environment. They are spontaneous variations that constitute the a priori, properly active nature of the human mind. This idea helps him not only explain important features of scientific and philosophical theories, but also reject certain philosophical doctrines such as materialism, determinism, agnosticism, and so on. It represents, so to speak, the relevance of the subjective method for deciding moral and metaphysical issues. Second, James claims that certain temperaments underlie the choice of philosophical systems. Thus, both pragmatism and pluralism can be seen as philosophical expressions of subjective influences. In the first case, pragmatism expresses a temperament that combines and harmonizes the tender-minded and the tough-minded. In the second, pluralism reflects the sympathetic temperament in contrast with the cynical character drawn to materialism. Finally, James proposes a distinction between the substantive and the transitive parts of consciousness, meaning that consciousness has clearly distinguishable aspects as well as more obscure points, although human beings tend to focus only on the first part, ignoring the other. This idea plays a decisive role in the elaboration of radical empiricism. Such illustrations, far from exhausting the relations between James’s psychology and philosophy, invite new insights and further scholarship.

Pragmatic Humanism and the Posthumanist Challenge: Between Biocentrism and the New Human Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Ana Honnacker
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
William James ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Capabilities ◽  
Human Potentials

Humanism is charged with fostering a harmful anthropocentrism that has led to the exploitation of non-human beings and the environment. Posthumanist and transhumanist ideas prominently aim at rethinking our self-understanding and human-nature relations. Yet these approaches turn out to be flawed when it comes to addressing the challenges of the “age of the humanity”, the Anthropocene. Whereas posthumanism fails in acknowledging the exceptional role of human beings with regard to political agency and responsibility, transhumanism overemphasizes human capabilities of controlling nature and only deepens the human-nature dualism. Therefore, a critical and humble version of humanism is suggested as a viable alternative. Drawing on pragmatist thinkers William James and F.C.S. Schiller, a resource for de-centering the human being is provided that critically reflects our role in the larger ecosystem and underlines human potentials as well as human responsibilities.

scholarly journals A Sketch on Daisaku Ikeda as a Jamesian Psychologist of Religion

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 607
Author(s):  
Kim
Keyword(s):  
William James ◽  
Psychology Of Religion ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
Secular World ◽  
The Arts

This essay attempts to determine whether Daisaku Ikeda can be seen as a Jamesian psychologist of religion. Concerning the development of this essay, it first focuses on a common concern that exists if we look at the work of William James and the Psychology of Religion in terms of how it exists as a distinct movement and how it is related to Ikeda’s perception of religion within a secular world. Next, this essay articulates his notion of self and the role of mediating symbols as this exists, especially in religion, in discourse, and in the arts in correspondence and relation to James’ Psychology of Religion. Finally, this essay critically raises questions that point to further developments as regards the thesis of this article.

The Practical Turn

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
William James ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Michael Dummett ◽  
Simon Blackburn ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Popular View ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
Charles Peirce

The pragmatist approach to philosophical problems focuses on the role of disputed notions—for example, truth, value, causation, probability, necessity—in our practices. The insight at the heart of pragmatism is that our analysis of such philosophical concepts must start with, and remain linked to, human experience and inquiry. As a self-conscious philosophical stance, pragmatism arose in America in the late nineteenth century, in the work of writers such as Charles Peirce, William James and John Dewey. While popular wisdom would have it that British philosophy thoroughly rejected that of its American cousins, that popular view is coming into dispute. Many distinguished British philosophers have also taken this practical turn, even if few have explicitly identified themselves as pragmatists. This book traces and assesses the influence of American pragmatism on British philosophy, with particular emphasis on Cambridge in the inter-war period (for instance, the work of Frank Ramsey and Ludwig Wittgenstein), on post-war Oxford (for instance, the work of Elizabeth Anscombe, P. F. Strawson and Michael Dummett), and on recent developments (for instance, the work of Simon Blackburn and Huw Price). There is a comprehensive introduction to the topic and the history of pragmatism, and Price and Blackburn, in their contributions, add their most recent thoughts to the debates.

How Do You Feel?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. (Bud) Craig
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
William James ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Insular Cortex ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Energy Needs

This book brings together startling evidence from neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry to present revolutionary new insights into how our brains enable us to experience the range of sensations and mental states known as feelings. Drawing on own cutting-edge research, the author has identified an area deep inside the mammalian brain—the insular cortex—as the place where interoception, or the processing of bodily stimuli, generates feelings. The book shows how this crucial pathway for interoceptive awareness gives rise in humans to the feeling of being alive, vivid perceptual feelings, and a subjective image of the sentient self across time. The book explains how feelings represent activity patterns in our brains that signify emotions, intentions, and thoughts, and how integration of these patterns is driven by the unique energy needs of the hominid brain. It describes the essential role of feelings and the insular cortex in such diverse realms as music, fluid intelligence, and bivalent emotions, and relates these ideas to the philosophy of William James and even to feelings in dogs. The book is also a compelling insider's account of scientific discovery, one that takes readers behind the scenes as the astonishing answer to this neurological puzzle is pursued and pieced together from seemingly unrelated fields of scientific inquiry. This book will fundamentally alter the way that neuroscientists and psychologists categorize sensations and understand the origins and significance of human feelings.

Latour, Bruno (1947–)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Harman
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
William James ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modes Of Existence

Bruno Latour is a French philosopher whose work and influence have been mainly in the social sciences, and he is one of the world’s most cited authors in this field. Along with Michel Callon and John Law he is considered one of the founders of actor-network theory (ANT), a method of avoiding abstract terms such as ‘society’, ‘capitalism’ and ‘the economy’ by focusing on the role of individual actors in building up any collective. ANT is thus a ‘flat ontology’ that places humans, nonhumans, concepts and fictional characters on the same footing. All entities are equally real, though not equally strong: neutrons simply have more or better allies attesting to their existence than Popeye, square circles or white ravens. Entities are termed ‘actors’ or ‘actants’, since they can be known and understood only by the effects they have on other things: there is no substance or thingly surplus hidden behind their concrete actions. From the late 1990s Latour partly renounced ANT due to its inability to distinguish between the truth conditions of differing modes of reality, a problem he tried to address in his new ‘modes of existence’ project. Among the chief influences on his work are the semiotics of A.J. Greimas, the metaphysics of A.N. Whitehead, the pragmatism of William James, and the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes.

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