What do you think?
Rate this book
William James, Public Philosopher
William James, Public Cotkin, William James, Public University of Illinois FIRST First Edition, First Printing. Published by University of Illinois Press, 1994. Octavo. Paperback. Book is like new.Seller 535262 Biography & Letters We Buy Books! Collections - Libraries - Estates - Individual Titles. Message us if you have books to sell!
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
November 13, 2024
I got interested in William James after hearing about his philosophy of pluralism on the podcast Weird Studies. My local library only had a copy of his The Varieties of Religious Experience and this book, so I grabbed both and started with this.
William James, Public Philosopher is an overview of the context William James's philosophy, and how his role as a public intellectual was not just part of his life but also integral to understanding the purpose of his work. Cotkin makes a pretty good argument for how James was able to see his own life and trouble reflected in the larger society of the 19th and 20th century and his work is focused on how to navigate modernity as he understood it.
Cotkin does a good job of covering James's philosophies, ideas about heroism and morality as work we perform on a chaotic existence, the ideas of pluralism and pragmatic philosophy in opposition to America's growing imperialism, etc. Cotkin also doesn't shy away from james's distinctly upper class views blind him.to the realities of other aspects of life, or the times when his arguments in a work are particularly weak or criticized. However, I felt that the book was at points very dry, and a bit repetitive in some of its quotations.
William James, Public Philosopher is an overview of the context William James's philosophy, and how his role as a public intellectual was not just part of his life but also integral to understanding the purpose of his work. Cotkin makes a pretty good argument for how James was able to see his own life and trouble reflected in the larger society of the 19th and 20th century and his work is focused on how to navigate modernity as he understood it.
Cotkin does a good job of covering James's philosophies, ideas about heroism and morality as work we perform on a chaotic existence, the ideas of pluralism and pragmatic philosophy in opposition to America's growing imperialism, etc. Cotkin also doesn't shy away from james's distinctly upper class views blind him.to the realities of other aspects of life, or the times when his arguments in a work are particularly weak or criticized. However, I felt that the book was at points very dry, and a bit repetitive in some of its quotations.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review