Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment

William James (1842-1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James. He spent his entire academic career at Harvard. He was appointed instructor in physiology for the spring 1873 term, instructor in anatomy and physiology in 1873, assistant professor of psychology in 1876, assistant professor of philosophy in 1881, full professor in 1885, endowed chair in psychology in 1889, returned to philosophy in 1897, and emeritus professor of philosophy in 1907. He was one of the strongest proponents of the school of Functionalism in psychology, and Pragmatism in philosophy. His works include Pragmatism (1907), A Pluralistic Universe (1909), The Meaning of Truth (1909), The Principles of Psychology (1890), The Will to Believe (1897), Human Immortality (1898), Talks to Teachers on Psychology and Some of Life's Ideals (1899), and The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902).