William James at the Boundaries
Philosophy, Science, and the Geography of Knowledge
What was the goal of this unusual speech? Rather than an oddity, Francesca Bordogna asserts that the APA address was emblematic—it was just one of many gestures that James employed as he plowed through the barriers between academic, popular, and pseudoscience, as well as the newly emergent borders between the study of philosophy, psychology, and the “science of man.” Bordogna reveals that James’s trespassing of boundaries was an essential element of a broader intellectual and social project. By crisscrossing divides, she argues, James imagined a new social configuration of knowledge, a better society, and a new vision of the human self. As the academy moves toward an increasingly interdisciplinary future, William James at the Boundaries reintroduces readers to a seminal influence on the way knowledge is pursued.
“Francesca Bordogna’s book begins with a memorable account of William James’s astonishing appearance at the 1906 meeting of the American Philosophical Association, where he challenged members to undertake a survey of ‘the limits of human power,’ a survey that he thought would transform philosophy. James failed, but Bordogna’s remarkable book, by returning us to that challenge, and by sketching out the paths not taken since then, might well prove to be itself transformational and even rejuvenative.”
“I learned a great deal from this wonderful history of James’s involvement in the shaping of the academy and intellectual thought. I can imagine telling any and all of my students in philosophy—as well as psychology or neuroscience—that if you want to understand your discipline, how it came to be as it is, then read this splendid book.”
“Francesca Bordogna convincingly argues that current dissatisfaction with the twentieth century’s specialization and professional neutrality in regard to morality and social issues has created an epistemological space for revisiting James’s model of keeping the boundaries between philosophy and science permeable. Her challenging and thought-provoking book is strikingly original and carefully researched. By placing James squarely at the creative intersection of the various disciplines, professions, and social activities of his time, she challenges the newly rigidified disciplinary habits that we instead inherited. This thought-provoking work makes an important contribution to the history of science and psychology.”
Introduction: Mental Energy, Boundary Work, and the Geography of Knowledge
1 Philosophy and Science
2 Philosophy Versus the Naturalistic Science of Man
James’s Early Negotiations of Disciplinary and Pedagogical Boundaries
3 James and the (Im)moral Economy of Science
4 Mental Boundaries and Pragmatic Truth
5 Pragmatism, Psychologism, and a “Science of Man”
6 Ecstasy and Community
James and the Politics of the Self
7 The Philosopher’s Place
James, Münsterberg, and Philosophical Trees
8 The Philosopher’s Mind
Routinists, Undisciplinables, and “The Energies of Men’”
Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
IndexPhilosophy: General Philosophy
Psychology: General Psychology
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