The Unity of William James's Thought

Wesley Cooper

Description

Wesley Cooper opposes the traditional view of William Jamesís philosophy which dismissed it as fragmented or merely popular, arguing instead that there is a systematic philosophy to be found in James's writings. His doctrine of pure experience is the binding thread that links his earlier psychological theorizing to his later epistemological, religious, and pragmatic concerns.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 03 juin 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9780826591470
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Unity of William James’s Thought

Wesley Cooper

The Unity of

William James’s Thought

the vanderbilt library of american philosophy offers interpretive perspectives on the historical roots of American philosophy and on present innovative developments in American thought, including studies of values, naturalism, social philosophy, cultural criticism, and applied ethics.

Series Editors Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., General Editor (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) Cornelis de Waal, Associate Editor (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis)

Editorial Advisory Board Kwame Anthony Appiah (Harvard) Larry Hickman (Southern Illinois University) John Lachs (Vanderbilt) John J. McDermott (Texas A&M) Joel Porte (Cornell) Hilary Putnam (Harvard) Ruth Anna Putnam (Wellesley) Beth J. Singer (Brooklyn College) John J. Stuhr (Pennsylvania State)

The Unity of William James’s Thought

Wesley Cooper

Vanderbilt University Press Nashville

© 2002 Vanderbilt University Press All rights reserved First edition 2002

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Cooper, Wesley, 1944- The unity of William James’s thought / Wesley Cooper. p. cm. — (The Vanderbilt library of American philosophy). Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn0-8265-1387-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. James, William, 1842-1910. I. Title. II. Series. b945.j24c635 2002 191—dc21 2001005427

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the following original sources for permission to reprint material based on earlier versions of these essays: Chapter 3 from “James’s Theory of Mental Causation,” in Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society,30:3, 1994. Chapter 4 from “William James’s Theory of Mind,” inJournal of the History of Philosophy,1990. Chapter 5 from “William James’s Theory of the Self,” inThe Monist,October 1992 (© 1992,The Monist,Peru, Illinois 61354). Chapter 6 from “James’s God,”American Journal of Theology & Philosophy,16:3, September 1995. Chapter 13 revised from “Moral Realism, Social Construction, and Communal Ontology,” by Wesley Cooper and Augustine Frimpong-Mansoh,South African Journal of Philosophy, 19:2, 2000.

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Contents

1.

2.

3.

Preface

xi

Introduction: James’s Philosophical System James’s Beans 1 Seven Obstacles 11 A Brief Biography 28 Methodological Considerations 33

Consciousness I: The Two-Levels View Four Interpretations 36 Protomental and Essentially Mental 40 Naturalism 45 Phenomenology 52 Panpsychism 59 Neutral Monism 63 The Case for Panpsychism 64 Empirical and Metaphysical Reality 67 Conclusion 71

Consciousness II: Mental Causation Introduction 74 Simultaneous Nomic Equivalents 76 Epiphenomenalism 81 Materialism 83 Anomalism 87 Emotions 92 Conclusion 96

36

74

1

[viii]

4

5

6

Contents

Consciousness III: Mind Dust Sciousness 97 Mind Dust 99 The Connection Principle 100 The Taylor-Wozniak Interpretation Esse Est Sentiri106 Conclusion 110

97

102

The Self: Its Freedom and Unity 111 Self, God, and Mysticism 111 Myers’s Mystery 111 The Two-Levels Analysis of the Self 114 The Self inThe Principles115 Scientific and Metaphysical Levels 117 James’s Shoehorn 120 The Spiritual Self 121 The Original Force 123 Empirical and Metaphysical Thinkers 126 Two Conceptions of Self-Synthesis 127 Self-Definition and the Closest-Continuer Theory The Active Self 132 James’s Radical-Empiricist Mysticism 133

God: Imminent Purpose 137 Slipping into Pure Experience 137 God’s Place in the Two-Levels View 139 Purposive Structure 140 Dogmatic versus Pragmatic Theology 141 Pragmatic Toleration of Overbelief 144 Analogizing to a Higher Purpose 147 A Pantheistic Theism 147 A Real God? 149

129

7

8

9

10

11

The Mystical: Its Role in the Two-Levels View Poohbahism Redux 152 Self, Subjectivity, and Privacy 154 Mysticism and Science 157 Gale’s Critique of Absolute Truth 163 Pure Experience Revisited 165

Contents

152

Pragmatism I: Pragmatism and Radical Empiricism 168 The Serpent’s Trail 168 Ramsifying Pure Experience 171 The Tightly Wedged Mind 173 Functionalism, Global Functionalism, and Ramsey Sentences Mentalistic and Nonmentalistic Phenomenalism 177 Intermediary and Nonintermediary Phenomena 178 Embracing a Reductio? 182 James’s Blues Dispelled 185 Conclusion 186

Pragmatism II: Meaning 188 Pragmatic Meaning 188 Meaning or Conception 189 Shuttling Again 192

Pragmatism III: Belief 195 The “Master Syllogism” 195 Maximizing Desire Satisfaction One World or Many? 201

198

Pragmatism IV: Rationality and Truth Constraining Subjectivity 206 Absolute Truth and Half-Truth 208 Two Dimensions of Macroagency 211 The Logic of Subjectivity in Belief 215 Realism and Correspondence 219 Conclusion 220

204

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175