William James: Selected Writings Book

William James (1842-1910), physician, philosopher, and psychologist, provided a distinctively American perspective on the subject of human behavior and personality. Rather than put forward a universal theory of consciousness and personality formation, James applied the principles of pragmatism to human interactions with the "jointless continuity of spaces," regarding human consciousness and will as manifestations of an ongoing attempt to achieve a sense of order in an ever-changing world of undifferentiated experience. His reluctance to impose a single categorical structure on buzzing confusion" is a major factor in the widely recognized growth of his influence on modern psychological thinking at the close of the twentieth century. Included in essay by Robert Coles, are James's "What Pragmatism Means" and The Varieties of Religious Experience