William James

University of Oregon, Spring 2010, PHIL 453 & 553

Instructor: Colin Koopman
Course Meetings (453): Tuesdays 10a-12p in GER 303 and Thursdays 10a-12p in GER 303
Course Meetings (553): Tuesdays 10a-12p in GER 303 and Fridays 10a-12p in PLC 314
Office Hours: Thursdays 1.00p-2.00p & Fridays 1.30p-3.00p in PLC 333



Course Overview:

William James (1842-1910) is an undeniably central figure in the history of American philosophy, no matter how you define ‘American philosophy’. He is also central for a number of philosophical traditions that have featured prominently in America, including pragmatism, empiricism, and pluralism. This course will offer an introduction to the main aspects of James’s philosophical contribution, beginning with readings from The Principles of Psychology, Essays in Radical Empiricism, Pragmatism and A Pluralistic Universe. We will then turn to James’s moral philosophy, where his contributions are widely engaged, though not always accepted. Our major focus, however, will be on the viability of James’s philosophical and moral thought for the purposes of social and political philosophy. James is usually maligned as a pragmatist who has little to contribute to social and political thought. We will interrogate this interpretation. Some of you will agree. Some will disagree. After working through primary texts together we will turn in the final weeks to some of the recent secondary literature on the subject of a Jamesian social and political philosophy.



Course Format:

This will be a reading-intensive course. If you do not like to read extraordinary amounts of material, then this course is not for you. If you are a lover of books, then you will find yourself at home in this course. Over the next ten weeks, we will together work through a tremendous portion of James’s writings. The upside of this is that you will come out of this course with expertise in the overall arc of James’s thought with especial expertise on his philosophical views concerning morality, individuality, and sociality. You will, in short, be in an excellent position to be a good Jamesian, or perhaps a good anti-Jamesian.

The format of our meetings will be lecture-with-discussion on Tuesdays with discussion-driven seminar-style meetings on Thursdays (443) and Fridays (553). You should come to every class having read the material for that session, with questions prepared about the text (this is a formal requirement for your grade), and ready to participate in the discussion. Students who sit back all quarter and do not participate in the discussion will likely find this a very difficult course. Students who eagerly and actively engage in our discussions will find themselves flourishing in our shared venue for philosophical practice.



Course Requirements (453 undergrads):

1. Participation (20%).
Discussion (10%).
You are expected to attend class and contribute to discussions. All our meetings will provide ample time for discussion—our Thursday sessions will be especially discussion focused.
Reading Questions (10%).
You must come to every class session prepared for discussion. On every Tuesday of the quarter you must bring in a printed sheet with 1 or 2 questions pertaining to our reading. I will collect these at the end of lecture on Tuesday; you should be prepared to develop your question before class on Thursdays/Fridays as some questions each week will be used as a basis for discussion at those meetings.

2. Short Essay (30%).
You will develop a short essay on some aspect of one of the three core topics covered in the first part of the course: radical empiricism, pragmatism, and pluralism. I will not offer you an essay prompt. Part of your assignment is to develop an interesting question to which your essay is an interesting response. This essay should be rather short, i.e. only about 4 pages in length. It will be due on Thursday of Week 4.

3. Final Essay Proposal (10%) plus Extended Annotated Bibliography (10%): (20% total)
You will develop a short one-page essay proposal with an accompanying annotated bibliography mapping out a program of further research, due on Tuesday of Week 8.
The proposal should take the form of an introductory paragraph or paragraphs, two pages maximum. In these draft intro paragraphs you should address the topic of your essay (in the form of the problem to which your essay is written), clearly state the main thesis of your essay, and give your reader a sense of how you will develop an argument on behalf of your main thesis.
The annotated bibliography should take the form of a list (in some standard citation format) of at least two secondary sources (one article or one book chapter counts as one source) relevant to your chosen essay topic as well as a short abstract of your selection in which you summarize each piece in your own words. Secondary sources refer to writings on the primary literature we are reading in the class, not additional writings by our primary author—you can find relevant secondary literature through The Philosopher’s Index (available through the UO library website or ask a reference librarian). I will give you a little feedback on the proposal, which you will then turn into a final essay that will be due at the end of the term.

4. Final Research Essay (30%).
You will write a second short essay on some aspect of James’s moral, social, and/or political philosophy. This essay should flesh out your proposal from earlier in the term and engage both assigned primary readings from James’s moral, social, and/or political writings and relevant secondary literature included in your bibliography. This should be about 6-7 pages in length. This is due Monday of exam week.

Course Requirements (553 grads):

1. Participation (20%).
Discussion (10%).
You need to come to class and contribute. All our meetings will provide ample time for discussion—our Friday meetings will be particularly discussion-centered. Please take it upon yourself to contribute. Reading Questions (10%).
You must come to every class session prepared for discussion. On every Tuesday of the quarter you must bring in a printed sheet with 1 or 2 questions pertaining to our reading. I will collect these at the end of lecture on Tuesday; you should be prepared to develop your question before class on Thursdays/Fridays as some questions each week will be used as a basis for discussion at those meetings.

2. Classroom Presentation (30%).
During weeks 2 thru 8, grads will introduce our Tuesday and Friday sessions with a brief (10 mins. on Tues.; 15 mins. on Fri.) presentation on a portion of the assigned reading for that week. (Note: see Grad Student Presentation Schedule at the foot of this document).

3. First Version Research Essay with an extended annotated bibliography (20%).
You will write a short argumentative essay, due on Tuesday of Week 8. The first shorter version should be about 8 pages (or 2000 words). You will revise this essay and expand it into a longer final research essay due at the end of the term.
You should include with your essay an accompanying annotated bibliography mapping out a program of further research. An annotated bibliography should take the form of a list (in some standard citation format) of at least two secondary sources (one article or one book chapter counts as one source) relevant to your chosen essay topic as well as a short abstract of your selection in which you summarize each piece in your own words.

4. Final Version Research Essay (30%).
You will write a final research essay, which will be a revision of, improvement upon, and expansion upon your shorter argumentative essay from earlier in the term. This essay should engage with one both the assigned primary literature and relevant secondary literature. This should be about 12 pages in length (aim for 3000 words, or a conference-length paper). This is due Monday of Exam week.


Texts:

  • Required: William James, The Writings of William James: A Comprehensive Edition, edited by John McDermott (University of Chicago Press, 1978). Notated by WWJ on schedule.
  • Required: (WTB) William James, The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, with Human Immortality (Dover, 1956). Notated by WTB on schedule.
  • Additional Readings: Those readings not available in WWJ and WTB will be made available on our course website as PDFs. Notated by [pdf] on schedule.
  • Online Editions: Note that many of James’s writings are available online, but if you use these please bring the assigned hardcopy to class. Many of these digital resources have been collected at the following site: http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/james.html. Many of the optional selections listed on the reading schedule below are also available online.

Reading and Seminar Schedule:

3/30 Tue

Introduction (go over syllabus & develop graduate student presentation schedules)

 

 

James’s Epistemologies, Metaphysics, and Metaphilosophies

Week 1

4/1 Thr

Transitionalism-Fluxism

The Principles of Psychology (1890) in WWJ

  • “Habit”
  • “The Stream of Thought”

* Optional: Emerson, “Self-Reliance” (1841)

 

Week 2

4/6 Tue

Radical Empiricism

Essays in Radical Empiricism (posthumous 1912) in WWJ

  • “Does Consciousness Exist?” (1904)
  • “A World of Pure Experience” (1905)
  • “The Thing and Its Relations” (1905)
  • “How Two Minds Can Know One Thing” (1905)
  • “The Experience of Activity” (1904)
  • “Pragmatism and Radical Empiricism” (1909)

* Optional: Dewey, “The Postulate of Immediate Empiricism” (1905)

4/8 Thr

[Guest Lecture & Discussion with Prof. Scott Pratt – Prof. Koopman will not be in attendance due to a presentation at Emory University in Atlanta]

 

Week 3

4/13 Tue

Pragmatism

Pragmatism (1907) in WWJ

  • “The Present Dilemma in Philosophy”
  • “What Pragmatism Means”
  • “Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered”
  • “The One and the Many”
  • “Pragmatism’s Conception of Truth”
  • “Pragmatism and Religion”

* Optional: Peirce, “The Fixation of Belief” and “How to Make Our Ideas Clear” (1878)

4/15 Thr & 4/16 Fri

Seminars

 

Week 4

4/20 Tue

Pluralism

“On Some Hegelisms” (1882) in WTB

A Pluralistic Universe (1909) in WWJ

  • “The Types of Philosophic Thinking” (1909)
  • “The Compounding of Consciousness” (1909)
  • “Bergson and His Critique of Intellectualism” (1909)
  • “The Continuity of Experience” (1909)

* Optional: Bergson, “An Introduction to Metaphysics” (1903)

4/22 Thr & 4/23 Fri

Seminars

 

 

[453: FIRST SHORT PAPERS DUE IN CLASS THUR OF WEEK 4 (4/22)]

 

 

James’s Moral-Ethical Philosophy

Week 5

4/27 Tue

The Ethics of Belief

“The Will to Believe” (1896) in WTB

 “The Dilemma of Determinism” (1884) in WTB

“The Sentiment of Rationality” (1879/1882) in WTB

* Optional: Clifford, “The Ethics of Belief” (1877)

 

The Ethics of Self-Transformation

“The Energies of Men” (1907) in WWJ

“Will” (1890, abridged) in WWJ [preferably read the full “Will” chapter in the Principles]

* Optional: James, “Will” chapter in Talks to Teachers (1899) [pdf]

* Optional: Dewey, “Habits and Will” in Human Nature and Conduct (1922)

4/29 Thr & 4/30 Fri

Seminars

Week 6

5/4 Tue

The Liberal-Pluralist Morality of Tolerance & Inclusion

 “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings” (1899) in WWJ

“What Makes a Life Significant?” (1899) in WWJ

“The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life” (1891) in WTB

* Optional: Mill, On Liberty, Ch. 1 (1859)

 

The Liberal-Pluralist Morality of Individuality-in-Sociality

“Great Men and Their Environment” (1880) in WTB

“The Importance of Individuals” (1890) in WTB

* Optional: Emerson, “Society and Solitude” (1870)

5/6 Thr & 5/7 Fri

Seminars

 

James’s Social-Political-Cultural Criticism

Week 7

5/11 Tue

Peace and War

“The Moral Equivalent of War” (1910) in WWJ

[pdf packet of two essays below]

“Remarks at the Peace Banquet” (1904)

“Robert Gould Show: Oration” (1897)

* Optional: Jane Addams, Newer Ideals of Peace, Chs. 1 & 8 (1907)

 

Imperialism and the Spanish-American War

[pdf packet of writings below]

“Letter on the Hon. Samuel W. McCall on the Venezuelan Crisis” (1895)

“Answer to Roosevelt on the Venezuelan Crisis” (1896)

“The Philippine Tangle” (1899)

“The Philippine Question” (1899)

“The Philippines Again” (1899)

“Governor Roosevelt’s Oration” (1899)

“Diary of a French Naval Officer: Observations at Manila” (1900)

“Views of Professor Blumentritt on the American Occupation” (1900)

“Secretary Taft a Biased Judge” (1904)

“On Philippine Independence” (1904)

plus selections from James's correspondence (read what you can of this)

See also the recent Sunday Times review on new books on the Spanish-American war

* Optional: Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders (1899)

5/13 Thr & 5/14 Fri

Seminars

 

 

[453: RESEARCH PAPER PROPOSALS DUE IN CLASS TUE OF WEEK 8 (5/18)]

[553: FIRST VERSION RESEARCH PAPERS DUE IN CLASS TUE OF WEEK 8 (5/18)]

 

Week 8

5/18 Tue

Academia

[pdf packet of writings below]

“The Ph.D. Octopus” (1903)

“The True Harvard” (1903)

“Stanford’s Ideal Destiny” (1906)

“The Social Value of the College Bred” (1907)

* Optional: Louis Menand, “The Ph.D. Problem” (2009)

 

Medical Regulation

[pdf packet of writings below]

“The Medical Advertisement Abomination” (1894)

“The Medical Registration Act” (1894)

“The Medical Registration Bill” (1894)

plus selected correspondence

* Optional: W. Rothstein, American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century: From Sects to Science (1972)

5/20 Thr & 5/21 Fri

Seminars

 

Concluding Thoughts and Selected Secondary Literature

Week 9

5/ 25 Tue

Full Group Discussion (Grads & Undergrads): James, Imperialism, and Inclusivism

Ruth Anna Putnam, “Some of Life’s Ideals” (1997) [pdf]

Richard Rorty, “Religious Faith, Intellectual Responsibility, and Romance” (1997) [pdf]

George Cotkin, William James: Public Philosopher, Chs. 6 & 7 (skim chs. 1 & 5)  (1989) [pdf]


Selected Secondary Texts on Jamesian Political Philosophy:

* Optional: Max C. Otto, “On a Certain Blindness in William James” (1943) [pdf]

* Optional: George Garrison and Edward Madden, “William James—Warts and All” (1977)

* Optional: Cornel West, The American Evasion of Philosophy , Ch. 2 (1989)

* Optional: Ruth Anna Putnam, “The Moral Life of a Pragmatist” (1990)

* Optional: Harvey Cormier, “Pragmatism, Politics, and the Corridor” (1997)

* Optional: Graham Bird, “Moral Philosophy and the Development of Morality” (1997)

* Optional: Jennifer Welchman, “WJ’s ‘Will to Believe’ and the Ethics of Self-Experimentation’” (2006)

* Optional: Andrew F. Smith, “Communication and Conviction: Jamesian Deliberative Democracy” (2007) [doc]

* Optional: Eric T. Weber, “James, Dewey, and Democracy” (2009)

 


Selected Secondary Texts on Jamesian Political Theory (by Political Scientists):

* Optional: William Connolly, Pluralism, Chs. 1, 3, & Postlude (2005) [pdf]

* Optional: Jonathan McKenzie, “Pragmatism, Pluralism, Politics: James’s Tragic…” (2009) [pdf]

* Optional: Joshua Miller, Democratic Temperament (1997)

* Optional: David Schlosberg, “Resurrecting the Pluralist Universe” (1998) [pdf]

* Optional: Richard Flathman, Pluralism and Liberal Democracy, ch. 2 (2005)

* Optional: Kennan Ferguson, Politics in the Pluriverse , chs. 1 & 2 (2007)

* Optional: Alex Livingston, "Docility in America: James, Tocqueville, and Individuality" [pdf]


Selected Secondary Texts on James by Intellectual Historains::

* Optional: David Hollinger, In the American Province, Chs. 1 & 2 (1985)

* Optional: James Kloppenberg, Uncertain Victory, Chs. 1-3 (1986)

* Optional: Robert Westbrook, Democratic Hope, Ch. 2 (2005)


[Note: see Koopman 2005, page 184, endnote 16 for a fuller survey of work on James’s political thought.]

5/27 Thr

Undergraduate Seminar: Inclusivism and Imperialism

Putnam, Rorty, and Cotkin Readings

5/27 Thr

Optional Seminar (Grads & Undergrads): James, Pragmatism, and Feminism
(12.00p to 1.30p in PLC 314)

Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Pragmatism & Feminism, Ch. 6 (1996) [pdf]

James Livingston, Pragmatism, Feminism, and Democracy, Ch. 5 (2001) [pdf]

5/28 Fri

Graduate Seminar: Jamesian Political Philosophy

Colin Koopman, “William James’s Politics of Personal Freedom” (2005) [pdf]

Colin Koopman, "Pragmatist Public Pluralism: Beyond the Public/Private Divide" (ms.) [pdf]

* Optional: Henry James, The American Scene (1907)

Week 10

6/1 Tue

Full Group Discussion (Grads & Undergrads): Concluding Reflections

Come to class prepared with: 1) a thesis statement about Jamesian political philosophy and 2) a metaphilosophical question about the possible roles and values of political philosophy today

6/3 Thr & 6/4 Fri

Classes Rescheduled due to Instructor Presentation in Washington D.C. at Privacy Law Conference

 

 

[453 & 553: FINAL PAPERS DUE IN MY BOX MONDAY OF EXAM WEEK]

 


Grad Student Presentation Schedule

Week 2 (4/6) - John Taylor (Radical Empiricism)
Week 3 (4/13) - Teri Mayfield (Pragmatism)
Week 3 (4/16) - Eleanor Wakefield (Pragmatism)
Week 4 (4/20) - Jonathan Langseth (Pluralism & Bergson)
Week 4 (4/23) - Vernon Carter (Pluralism)
Week 5 (4/30) - Elizabeth Grosz (The Ethics of Belief)
Week 6 (5/4) - Megan Burke (Tolerance, Inclusion, Blindness)
Week 6 (5/7) - Katherine Logan (Individuality and Sociality)
Week 7 (5/11) - Mindy Lawson (Spanish-American War)
Week 7 (5/14) - Rhea Muchalla (Peace and War)
Week 8 (5/18) - Alan Reynolds (Academia)
Week 8 (5/21) - Aaron Pratt (Academia)



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