James, William

An American philosopher and psychologist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was one of the first theorists to suggest that humans, like other animals, possess instincts . He also opposed then-dominant views by arguing that human identity is grounded not in metaphysics but in behavior.

Discover More

Novelist Henry James was William James's brother.

His most recent volume, an anthology called The Heart of William James, has just been published by Harvard University Press.

The 136th Kentucky Derby was the kind of sporting event that William James would have loved.

In 1897, William James published an essay called “ The Will to Believe.”

The man who has made philosophy popular to-day is William James.

William James, who called himself a "radical empiricist," made much of this point.

William James once said that the good which came from such study was the ability to "know a good man when we see him."

The next letter, although not from William James, will help to fill out the picture.

Some passages in William James's early letters to his family might seem labored.

Browse