Essays in Radical Empiricism

by William James

Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only

Written
1904-1905 (collected 1912)
Language
English
Length
Medium · 140 pp120 to 300 pages
Difficulty
Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader

We recommendEssays in Radical EmpiricismDover, 2003A cheap complete reprint of the 1912 collection; the Harvard critical edition is the scholarly text.

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Twelve essays James published in journals in 1904 and 1905 and planned as a book, collected after his death by Ralph Barton Perry. The opening essay asks whether consciousness exists and answers that it is a function, not an entity. The others develop a metaphysics of pure experience, in which mind and matter are the same stuff related in different ways, relations are as directly experienced as the things they relate, and the world is a pluralistic universe rather than a block.

No reading guide yet

The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Essays in Radical Empiricism are verified against each program's published list.

What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.

Browse the 48 works that do have a guide →

pure experience, Does Consciousness Exist, pluralism, relations, neutral monism, Perry