Memorable Quotations: William James

Born in New York City, William James (1842–1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The son of the theologian Henry James and brother of the novelist Henry James, William James initially taught psychology and then philosophy at Harvard University. His Principles of Psychology (1890) was a splendid and epoch-making work. Though he is often deemed the founder of pragmatism, James conferred that claim to C.S. Peirce. According to James, the veracity of a proposition is judged by its practical outcome. His “radical empiricism” rebuffed all transcendental principles and directly affected the instrumentalism of John Dewey. James retained a lifetime interest in religion and psychical research. His works, notable for their literary quality, include The Will to Believe (1897), The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), and Pragmatism (1907).