Be Not Afraid of Life : : In the Words of William James / / William James; ed. by John Kaag, Jonathan van Belle.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2023 English
• VerfasserIn: James, William,
• HerausgeberIn: Kaag, John,; van Belle, Jonathan,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (384 p.)

A compelling collection of the life-changing writings of William JamesWilliam James—psychologist, philosopher, and spiritual seeker—is one of those rare writers who can speak directly and powerfully to anyone about life’s meaning and worth, and whose ideas change not only how people think but how they live. The thinker who helped found the philosophy of pragmatism and inspire Alcoholics Anonymous, James famously asked, “is life worth living?” Bringing together many of his best and most popular essays, talks, and other writings, this anthology presents James’s answer to that and other existential questions, in his own unique manner—caring, humorous, eloquent, incisive, humble, and forever on the trail of the “ever not quite.”Here we meet a James perfectly attuned to the concerns of today—one who argues for human freedom, articulates a healthy-minded psychology, urges us to explore the stream of consciousness, presents a new definition of truth based on its practical consequences, and never forecloses the possibility of mystical transcendence. Introduced by John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle, these compelling and accessible selections reveal why James is one of the great guides to the business of living.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Determinism and Despair -- 1 Letter to Thomas Wren Ward (1868) -- 2 “ The Sick Soul,” from The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) -- 3 “ The Dilemma of Determinism” (1897) -- Freedom and Life -- 4 “ The Will to Believe” (1897) -- 5 “ Is Life Worth Living?” (1897) -- Psychology and the Healthy Mind -- 6 “ What Makes a Life Significant” (1900) -- 7 Chapter IX, “The Stream of Thought,” and Chapter X, “The Consciousness of Self,” from The Principles of Psychology (1890) -- 8 “ The Energies of Men” (1907) -- Consciousness and Transcendence -- 9 A Review of Benjamin Paul Blood’s The Anesthetic Revelation and the Gist of Philosophy (1874) -- 10 “ On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings” (1899) -- Truth and Consequences -- 11 “What Pragmatism Means” (1903) -- 12 “ The Moral Equivalent of War” (1903) -- Wonder and Hope -- 13 “Mysticism,” from The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) -- 14 “Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine” (1897) -- 15 “A Pluralistic Mystic” (1910) -- Index