Essays in Pragmatism

The Hafner Library of Classics is a refreshing approach to the study of major Western philosophers. Introductory essays by noted scholars enliven each volume with insights into the human side of the great thinkers, & provide authoritative discussions of the historical background, evolution & importance of their ideas. Highly recommended as classroom texts.
The seven papers brought together in this volume provide an introduction to the philosophy of Wm James. The 1st & 6th deal with questions of method, asks what philosophy is & how it should go about its job. The remaining five deal with free will, morals, science & religion, his own views in religion & the nature of truth. It would be difficult to suggest more persistent problems in philosophy. These papers introduce a reader to James. They do more than that. Few authors are better able to communicate the spirit of humane philosophizing. These papers therefore provide a valuable introduction to American philosophy & to philosophy itself. To the extent that there is a perennial philosophy, concerning itself with humans as rational animals, James, like Plato, provides a genial & colorful introduction to many of its problems & arguments. These papers were written between 1879 & 1907. Darwinism was 20 years in the air when James wrote The Sentiment of Rationality, & WWI was just seven years around the corner when Pragmatism was published. These papers express the interests of an alert & sensitive mind during one of the most critical quarter centuries in modern history. Darwin & Spencer, Newman & Huxley, Arnold & Pater, Tolstoy & Dostoyevsky, Ibsen & Zola, Marx & Nietzsche formed the climate of opinion within which James’ ideas took shape. They were the elder statesmen. James’ 1879 paper has the character of a manifesto addressed by a younger man to the world of their making. During the quarter century which followed new intellectual leaders arrived, James himself among them. They included Bergson & Poincarg, Butler & Shaw, Bradley & Royce, Wells & Chesterton, Santayana & Croce, Dewey & Schiller, Belloc & Babbitt, Kipling & Anatole France. These were his contemporaries. Hi 1907 volume, Pragmatism, has the character of a testament addressed to them by way of challenge or confirmation.