The Philosophy of William James

Reality might ACTUALLY be the way it seems in our experience of it--I know; crazy, right?!?!?!?!? I mean where do the philosophers come up with these things??!?!!? Ok, seriously. Maybe it takes a philosopher to come up with the idea that reality is completely different from the way it seems in our experience. But if so, then we need a second philosopher to refute the first one. Hence--William James!

My teacup and my kettle are different things, and they can connect. Like why not?

My teacup and the electric kettle aren't the same things. Can one still effect the other? Yes. Of course. And therefore the philosophy of the Absolute is wrong!

Welcome to Lecture II!

Hegelian absolute pantheistic monism vs. Jamesian empirical pantheistic pluralism. Who shall triumph?

Keep in mind that "pantheism" doesn't mean all is one. It means all is divine. The whole point of this book is to defend a pluralistic pantheism--all is divine, and NOT all is one!

What's wrong with theistic dualism.

What's the best way of thinking about the world? Are we at home in the world? Can we be at home in the world if God is totally separate from the world?

Can we be at home in this universe?

Meet A Pluralistic Universe by William James.

The guy never talks about this stuff, and still manages to give us some great advice about it. Weird and awesome.

It's not faith vs. reason. It's believing the truth vs. avoiding error.

A strange and wonderful little book.

Yeah, it's pretty much about James critiquing Hegel even more.

Yeah, it's pretty much about James critiquing Hegel.

A brief addendum, from James' later writings, to that huge series from The Will to Believe and Other Essays.

Intro to James' essay "What Psychical Research Has Accomplished."

Finishing up "On Some Hegelisms" by James.

What's wrong with Hegelianism, according to one philosopher.

Something like Divine Command Theory. Sort of.

So this philosopher guy did this talk on "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life," and he said some weird stuff.

Belief in free will and belief in causality are on a par. So says William James. So forget what the Merovingian said in the Matrix movies! Intro to William James' essay "The Dilemma of Determinism."

Introduction to an essay by pragmatist philosopher William James.

How does James wrap up this interesting essay?

The one from "The Sentiment of Rationality." (Not the one from "The Will to Believe.")