Trail Of The Human Serpent Is Over Everything

Preface

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations Of Citations

Introduction: William James And The Pragmatist Tradition

Pragmatic And Transcendental Arguments For Theism

James On Death, Mortality, And Immortality

On The Reality Of Evil: A Jamesian Investigation

James’s Pragmatist Metaphysics Of The Mind: Religion, Individualism, And Other Minds

Pragmatism And Personalism

Panpsychism-a Neglected Jamesian Alternative?

Conclusion

Index

About The Author

Additional Info
This book takes a fresh look at how William James’ (1842-1910) conceptions of the human mind, death (mortality and immortality), and religion provide us with a viable alternative to many contemporary philosophical approaches. The distinctive Jamesian perspective is illuminated through critical discussions of several different theories and conjectures. The overall argument of this volume is that pragmatist metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion must be subordinated to ethics. To provide an historical and philosophical context for this revolutionary conception of the pragmatic method, an introductory discussion of James’ views on pragmatism, realism, and truth is also included. Instead of focusing on the general issues of realism and pragmatism, however, the volume examines the applications of these issues to topics such as death, evil, and other minds. The book is vital reading not only for James scholars and pragmatists, but for anyone thinking seriously about human mortality and the endless ethical challenges our life with other human beings that confront us.