The Dynamic Individualism of William James (review)

William James' philosophy is deeply entangled with his life and this, no doubt, accounts for a good part of his appeal as a philosopher. In reading James, one is struck by how vital philosophy can be and how seriously James pursued a philosophy that could make sense of human existence. Philosophy, he claimed, uses "hard reasoning" to achieve "results emotionally valuable." Given James' prolonged battle with clinical depression, this hard reasoning seems not just "valuable" but quite literally life-saving. And, a century later, many of James' readers find his philosophy still inspirational. As philosophy has become increasingly professionalized, a development James deplored, many of us find in James the reminder that philosophy can and should make a real difference in our own and others' lives.

James' philosophy is individualistic, then, by being especially concerned with the individual lives of human beings and what can be done to improve them. In addition, his method is individualistic in that he consistently uses the concrete lived experiences of individuals, often obtained introspectively, as his primary data. But that doesn't say enough about either James' unique brand of individualism or the presence of individualism across his many works. That's where James Pawelski's brisk and engaging book comes in. In it Pawelski sheds a lot of light on James' individualism and, in the process, gives a wide-ranging and at times provocative reading of James' philosophy.

Pawelski argues that James' individualism is dynamic. It is dynamic, first, because it evolved over James' career. Pawelski argues that James' individualism in early works such as The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy is different from that in later works such as A Pluralistic Universe and Some Problems of Philosophy. Second, James' individualism is dynamic because it is grounded in James' understanding of human physiology. As a result, this puts a twist on the social, psychological, and metaphysical aspects of James' individualism. Third, and finally, James' individualism is dynamic because it stresses the importance of individual growth.

Pawelski uses these different senses of "dynamic" to defend what he calls his "Integration Thesis": that, toward the end of his career, James was able to refine his individualism in ways that, first, integrate different parts of the human psyche and, second, indicate how individuals can achieve an integrated self that is able to grow and flourish. James' individualism, Pawelski argues, eventually evolved into a position that can guarantee both the freedom that makes life meaningful (because of the active role we play in shaping our world) as well as the "intimacy" that shows the universe is on our side. As Pawelski writes:

The tension in James between the need for the challenge of freedom and the need for the reassurance of intimacy is palpable. Pointing out ways in which James worked to resolve this tension is valuable for James scholarship. It may prove to be of value, as well, in the lives of those of his readers who experience a similar tension and are looking for concrete, practical ways of diminishing it.

(108)

As this passage shows, Pawelski, like James, wants not just to win philosophical battles but to describe a philosophically useful guide to living an "integrated" life.

Pawelski's description of the integrated life starts from James' reflex action theory of the self. According to James, in essays such as "Reflex Action and Theism" (1881), the self is divided into three faculties: roughly speaking, "perception," "conception" and "volition." The first faculty, "perception," provides the sensory data that the second faculty, "conception," processes so that the third faculty, "volition," can generate actions that successfully achieve their goal. This theory, Pawelski argues, provides a physiological basis for James' individualism that is then mirrored in his psychology and metaphysics. It also, however, introduces tensions that James was only able to address toward the end of his career. So, for example, at times James emphasizes perception as the dominant faculty because it brings us into closest contact...