Essays in Radical Empiricism

Essays in Radical Empiricism shows William James concerned with ultimate reality and moving toward a metaphysical system. The twelve essays originally appeared in journals between 1904 and 1906. James himself collected them to illustrate what he called -radical empiricism,- but this volume was not published until 1912, two years after his death. Included are such seminal essays as -Does Consciousness Exist?- and -A World of Pure Experience.- The distinguished scholar and biographer Ralph Barton Perry, who edited this volume, called the essays essential to an understanding of James-s writings.

Radical empiricism takes us into a -world of pure experience.- In the essays, as introducer Ellen Kappy Suckiel notes, -James inquires into the metaphysically basic reality underlying the common-sense objects of our world. It is here that he defends his view that -experience- is the sole and ultimate reality.- The essays deal with the applications of this -pure- or -neutral- experie