Yes, there really was a time when America had public philosophers, writes Cushing Strout, a professor emeritus of American studies at Cornell University. Three men in particular were especially ...

James’s “The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life” sheds light not only on his views on ethics but also on his general approach to objectivity. Indeed, the paper is most interesting not for the ...

It makes no difference what pretensions the philosopher may parade as to the coersive nature of his arguments. Whatever principles he may reason from, and whatever logic he may follow, he is at bottom ...

William James was an intellectual force of nature in 19th century America. Trained as a medical doctor, he saw links between the life sciences, psychology and philosophy, and was a seminal thinker on ...

FOR William James the ‘ facts ’ of chief importance in the universe were persons. He began his thinking from that end. Among those who have earned the name of philosopher there is none whose ...

The whole idea of pragmatism was named and framed in America. It's the idea that ideas, beliefs, and philosophies should be judged by their results. If it works – really works - it’s good. But this is ...

What has always been hard for James’s professional colleagues to swallow is that he was a pluralist as well as a philosopher. Traditionally, the aim of philosophy has been to unify, to reduce ...

What doctrines students take from their teachers are of little consequence provided they catch from them the living, philosophic attitude of mind, the independent, personal look at all the data of ...

“He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had tried and failed.” – William James, philosopher, as quoted in “American Philosophy: A Love Story” As philosophers ...

On a day when ‘everyone is Irish,’ it’s good to remember when not everyone wanted to be. Even some Irish. By John Kaag Mr. Kaag is a professor of philosophy and an author. In 1789, a young man of 18 ...