William James in Focus

William J. Gavin is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. He is author of William James and the Reinstatement of the Vague and Cuttin' the Body Loose: Historical, Biological, and Personal Approaches in Death and Dying. He is former president of the William James Society.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of Abbreviations1. James's Life: Will to Believe as Affirmation2. "The Will to Believe": Policing versus Free-Roaming3. The Principles of Psychology: Consciousness as a Constitutive Stream4. The Varieties of Religious Experience: Mysticism as a Vague "Exemplar"5. Pragmatism: Corridor as "Latent" and "The Will to Believe"6. Metaphysics: Radical Empiricism and Pure Experience7. "Pure" versus "Impure" Experience: Examples of Pure Experience8. Challenges to "The Will to Believe"Conclusion: Pragmatism, Death, and "The Will to Believe"EpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex

"[Gavin] . . . offers, in one hundred pages, a concise and mostly effective sketch of James' arc of thought, in which the theme of the impressive and engaging nature of James' philosophical 'outline' is expressly tackled."—Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"Gavin's book is meta-continuous, operating at more than one level at a time. Our responsibility is to take James seriously, and Gavin provides cogent reasons for doing so. William J. Gavin's work continues to warrant the title 'Jamesian.'"—The Pluralist"This praiseworthy volume presents a viewpoint on James that brings the novice reader into conversation and reminds the more experienced reader of the big-picture of James, of the zest and novelty of his vision. Understanding James requires some commitment and work—and this volume is a good and workable guide. . . . the volume is a success as it spurs us to consider James's work as demanding a new interpretation for each reader. Gavin, in his discussion of James, retains the zest and freshness of a philosopher who rewards the reader with her own view of a thick pluralistic universe."—William James Studies"Gavin has produced a bold and provocative introduction to James's philosophy that will be of interest to many scholars of American philosophy, especially those who see deep and important affinities between the views of American philosophers like James and Dewey and those of figures in the Continental tradition."—Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society