The Letters of William James, Vol. 2James, William
Philosophy
The Letters of William James, Vol. 2
James, William
Intellectuals -- United States; James, William, 1842-1910; Philosophers -- United States; Psychologists -- United States
DEAR FLOURNOY,--Your dilectissime letter of the 16th arrived this
morning and I must scribble a word of reply. That's the way to write to
a man! Caress him! flatter him! tell him that all Switzerland is hanging
on his lips! You have made me really _happy_ for at least twenty-four
hours! My dry and businesslike compatriots never write letters like
that. They write about themselves--you write about _me_. You know the
definition of an egotist: "a person who insists on talking about
_himself_, when you want to talk about _yourself_." Reverdin has told me
of the success of your lectures on pragmatism, and if you have been
communing in spirit with me this winter, so have I with you. I have
grown more and more deeply into pragmatism, and I rejoice immensely to
hear you say, "je m'y sens tout gagné." It is absolutely the only
philosophy with _no_ humbug in it, and I am certain that it is _your_
philosophy. Have you read Papini's article in the February "Leonardo"?
That seems to me really splendid. You say that my ideas have formed the
real _centre de ralliment_ of the pragmatist tendencies. To me it is the
youthful and _empanaché_ Papini who has best put himself at the centre
of equilibrium whence all the motor tendencies start. He (and Schiller)
has given me great confidence and courage. I shall dedicate my book,
however, to the memory of J. S. Mill.
I hope that you are careful to distinguish in my own work between the
pragmatism and the "radical empiricism" (Conception de Conscience,[72]
etc.) which to my own mind have no necessary connexion with each other.
My first proofs came in this morning, along with your letter, and the
little book ought to be out by the first of June. You shall have a very
early copy. It is exceedingly untechnical, and I can't help suspecting
that it will make a real impression. Münsterberg, who hitherto has been
rather pooh-poohing my thought, now, after reading the lecture on truth
which I sent you a while ago, says I seem to be ignorant that Kant ever
wrote, Kant having already said all that I say. I regard this as a very
good symptom. The third stage of opinion about a new idea, already
arrived: _1st_: absurd! _2nd_: trivial! _3rd_: _we_ discovered it! I
don't suppose you mean to print these lectures of yours, but I wish you
would. If you would translate my lectures, what could make me happier?
But, as I said apropos of the "Varieties," I hate to think of you doing
that drudgery when you might be formulating your own ideas. But, in one
way or the other, I hope you will join in the great strategic
combination against the forces of rationalism and bad abstractionism! A
good _coup de collier_ all round, and I verily believe that a new
philosophic movement will begin....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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