What William James thinks about agency

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American philosopher and psychologist (1842 to 1910); studied at Harvard; author of The Principles of Psychology (1890), The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) and Pragmatism (1907).

William James did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only William James on agency. See everyone on agency

5 dated positions, c. 1879–1896 to c. 1906–1907, in their own words. Our reading of what William James has said — not written or endorsed by them.

1. c. 1906–1907

   Our readingTheories are instruments for moving forward, not answers to rest in

   Their wordsTHEORIES THUS BECOME INSTRUMENTS, NOT ANSWERS TO ENIGMAS, IN WHICH WE CAN REST. We don't lie back upon them, we move forward, and, on occasion, make nature over again by their aid.

   ↗Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book

3. c. 1906–1907

   Our readingIn knowing as in acting, people are creative and add to reality

   Their wordsIn our cognitive as well as in our active life we are creative. We ADD, both to the subject and to the predicate part of reality.

   ↗Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book

5. c. 1879–1896

   Our readingScepticism does not avoid choosing; it is choosing one particular kind of risk

   Their wordsScepticism, then, is not avoidance of option; it is option of a certain particular kind of risk.

   ↗The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1879-1896)gutenberg.org All 19 from this book

7. c. 1879–1896

   Our readingIf we are free, our first free act should be to affirm that we are free

   Their wordsIn other words, our first act of freedom, if we are free, ought in all inward propriety to be to affirm that we are free.

   ↗The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1879-1896)gutenberg.org All 19 from this book

9. c. 1879–1896

   Our readingSocial change from generation to generation is mainly due to influential individuals

   Their wordsThe mutations of societies, then, from generation to generation, are in the main due directly or indirectly to the acts or the example of individuals whose genius was so adapted to the receptivities of the moment, or whose accidental position of authority was so critical that they became ferments, initiators of movement, setters of precedent or fashion, centres of corruption, or destroyers of other persons, whose gifts, had they had free play, would have led society in another direction.

   ↗The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1879-1896)gutenberg.org All 19 from this book