The Letters Of William James - free ebook by William James

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The Letters Of William James

William James

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22 chapters

PREFACE

PREFACE

W HETHER William James was compressing his correspondence into brief messages, or allowing it to expand into copious letters, he could not write a page that was not free, animated, and characteristic. Many of his correspondents preserved his letters, and examination of them soon showed that it would be possible to make a selection which should not only contain certain letters that clearly deserved to be published because of their readable quality alone, but should also include letters that were

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DATES AND FAMILY NAMES

DATES AND FAMILY NAMES

(See Appendix in volume II for a full list of books by William James, with their dates.) William James was the eldest of five children. His brothers and sister, with their dates, were: Henry (referred to as "Harry"), 1843-1916; Garth Wilkinson (referred to as "Wilky"), 1845-1883; Robertson (referred to as "Bob" and "Bobby"), 1846-1910; Alice, 1848-1892. He had five children. Their dates and the names by which they are referred to in the letters are: Henry ("Harry"), 1879; William ("Billy"), 1882

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I INTRODUCTION

I INTRODUCTION

Ancestry—Henry James, Senior—Youth—Education—Certain Personal Traits T HE ancestors of William James, with the possible exception of one pair of great-great-grandparents, all came to America from Scotland or Ireland during the eighteenth century, and settled in the eastern part of New York State or in New Jersey. One Irish forefather is known to have been descended from Englishmen who had crossed the Irish Channel in the time of William of Orange, or thereabouts; but whether the others who came

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II 1861-1864

II 1861-1864

Chemistry and Comparative Anatomy in the Lawrence Scientific School I N the autumn of 1861 James turned to scientific work, and began what was to become a lifelong connection with Cambridge and Harvard University by registering for the study of chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School. Among the students who were in the School in his time were several who were to be his friends and colleagues in later years—Nathaniel S. Shaler, later Professor of Geology and Dean of the Scientific School, Ale

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III 1864-1866

III 1864-1866

The Harvard Medical School—With Louis Agassiz to the Amazon I N 1864 the family moved from Newport to Boston, where Henry James, Senior, took a house on Ashburton Place (No. 13) for two years, and there was no more occasion for family letters. Although James began the regular course at the Medical School, he had arrived at no clear professional purpose and no selection of any particular field of study. The School afforded him some measure of preparation for natural science as well as for practic

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IV 1866-1867

IV 1866-1867

Medical Studies at Harvard J AMES returned from Brazil in March, 1866, and immediately entered the Massachusetts General Hospital for a summer's service as undergraduate interne. In the autumn he left the Hospital and resumed his studies in the Harvard Medical School. The Faculty of the School then included Dr. O. W. Holmes and Professor Jeffries Wyman. Charles Ed. Brown-Séquard was lecturing on the pathology of the nervous system. During the years of James's interrupted course a number of men a

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V 1867-1868

V 1867-1868

Eighteen Months in Germany I N the spring of 1867 James interrupted his course at the Medical School again. He was impelled to do this, partly by the pressure of a conviction that his health required him to stop work or continue elsewhere under different conditions, and partly by a desire to learn German and study physiology in the German laboratories. He knew a little German already, and it seemed reasonable to suppose that if he went abroad immediately he would have time to familiarize himself

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VI 1869-1872

VI 1869-1872

Invalidism in Cambridge T HE return to Cambridge from Germany in November, 1868, marked the beginning of four outwardly uneventful years. James spent them under his father's roof. His family and intimate friends were usually close at hand; the stream of his correspondence shrank to almost nothing. The few letters that have been preserved do incomplete justice to this period, but can, fortunately, be supplemented by other documents. James obtained his medical degree easily enough in June, 1869; b

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VII 1872-1878

VII 1872-1878

First Years of Teaching I N 1872 President Eliot wished to provide instruction in physiology and hygiene for the Harvard undergraduates, and looked about him for instructors. He had formed an impression of James ten years before which, as he said, "was later to become useful to Harvard University," and in the interval he had known him as a Cambridge neighbor and had been aware of the direction his interests had taken. He proposed that James and Dr. Thomas Dwight—a young anatomist who was also to

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VIII 1878-1883

VIII 1878-1883

Marriage—Contract for the Psychology—European Colleagues—Death of his Parents E ARLY in 1876 James had been introduced by their common friend Thomas Davidson (that ardent and lovable man whom he sketched with incomparable strokes in "A Knight Errant of the Intellectual Life") to Miss Alice H. Gibbens, and the next day he wrote to his brother Wilky that he had met "the future Mrs. W. J." Miss Gibbens had grown up in Weymouth, a pleasant little Massachusetts town in which several generations of he

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IX 1883-1890

IX 1883-1890

Writing the "Principles of Psychology"—Psychical Research—The Place at Chocorua—The Irving Street House—The Paris Psychological Congress of 1889 J AMES had now found his feet, professionally, as well as in other ways. He strode ahead on the next stage of his journey with a firmness of which he would have been incapable in the seventies, and carried a heavy burden of work forward, with never a long halt and without ever setting it down, until he had finished the two large volumes of the "Principl

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X 1890-1893

X 1890-1893

The "Briefer Course" and the Laboratory—A Sabbatical Year in Europe T HE publication of the "Principles" may be treated as making a date—at any rate in the story of James's life. Although conceived originally as a manual or textbook, it had gone far beyond that mere summary of a subject which it is the rôle of most textbooks to be, and had finally assumed the form of a philosophic survey. "It was a declaration of independence (defining the boundary lines of a new science with unapproachable geni

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THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES

THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES

EDITED BY HIS SON HENRY JAMES IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME II colophon THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS BOSTON C opyright , 1920, by HENRY JAMES...

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XI

XI

1893-1899 Turning to Philosophy—A Student's Impressions—Popular Lecturing—Chautauqua When James returned from Europe, he was fifty-two years old. If he had been another man, he might have settled down to the intensive cultivation of the field in which he had already achieved renown and influence. He would then have spent the rest of his life in working out special problems in psychology, in deducing a few theories, in making particular applications of his conclusions, in administering a growing

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XII

XII

1893-1899 ( Continued ) The Will to Believe—Talks to Teachers—Defense of Mental Healers—Excessive Climbing in the Adirondacks [Dictated] C AMBRIDGE , Dec. 7, 1896 . My dear Flournoy ,—Your altogether precious and delightful letter reached me duly, and you see I am making a not altogether too dilatory reply. In the first place, we congratulate you upon the new-comer, and think if she only proves as satisfactory a damsel as her charming elder sisters, you will never have any occasion to regret tha

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XIII

XIII

1899-1902 Two years of Illness in Europe—Retirement from Active Duty at Harvard—The First and Second Series of the Gifford Lectures When James sailed for Hamburg on July 15, he planned quite definitely to devote the summer to rest and the treatment of his heart, then to write out the Gifford Lectures during the winter, and to deliver them by the following spring; and, happily, could not foresee that he was to spend nearly two years in exile and idleness. For nearly six years he had driven himsel

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XIV

XIV

1902-1905 The Last Period (I)—Philosophical Writing—Statements of Religious Relief James now limited his teaching in Harvard University, as has been said, to half a course a year and tried to devote his working energies to formulating a statement of his philosophical conceptions. For two years he published almost nothing; then the essays which were subsequently collected in the volumes called "Pragmatism," "The Pluralistic Universe," "The Meaning of Truth," and "Essays in Radical Empiricism," be

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XV

XV

1905-1907 The Last Period (II)—Italy and Greece—Philosophical Congress in Rome—Stanford University—The Earthquake—Resignation of Professorship In the spring of 1905 an escape from influenza, from Cambridge duties, and from correspondents, became imperative. James had long wanted to see Athens with his own eyes, and he sailed on April 3 for a short southern holiday. During the journey he wrote letters to almost no one except his wife. On his way back from Athens he stopped in Rome with the purpos

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XVI

XVI

1907-1909 The Last Period (III)—Hibbert Lectures in Oxford—The Hodgson Report The story of the remaining years is written so fully in the letters themselves as to require little explanation. Angina pectoris and such minor ailments as are only too likely to afflict a man of sixty-five years and impaired constitution interrupted the progress of reading and writing more and more. Physical exertion, particularly that involved in talking long to many people, now brought on pain and difficulty in brea

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XVII

XVII

1910 Final Months—The End Several reasons combined to take James to Europe in the early spring of 1910. His heart had been giving him more discomfort. He wished to consult a specialist in Paris from whom an acquaintance of his, similarly afflicted, had received great benefit. He believed that another course of Nauheim baths would be helpful. Last, and not least, he wished to be within reach of his brother Henry, who was ill and concerning whose condition he was much distressed. In reality it was

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APPENDIX I

APPENDIX I

Three Criticisms for Students In his smaller classes, made up of advanced students, James found it possible to comment in detail on the work of individuals. Three letters have come into the hands of the editor, from which extracts may be taken to illustrate such comments. They were written for persons with whom he could communicate only by letter, and are extended enough to suggest the viva voce comments which many a student recalls, but of which there is no record. The first is from a letter to

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APPENDIX II

APPENDIX II

Books by William James The following chronological list includes books only, but it gives the essays and chapters contained in each. Professor R. B. Perry's "Bibliography" (see below) lists a great number of contributions to periodicals, which have never been reprinted, and includes notes indicative of the matter of each. (No attempt has been made to compile a list of references to literature about William James, but the following may be mentioned as easily obtainable: William James , by Émile B

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