The direction of William James' life can be attributed to his father, Henry James Sr., who gained an inheritance from his father and made connections with various contemporary literary and philosophical figures. William's brother, Henry James, would become a famous novelist while their sister, Alice, would become famous for her diary in the years following her death.
In his youth, William James traveled often with his family, attending various private schools and learning from tutors in New York, Geneva, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Paris. For a brief period he studied Art in Newport, Rhode Island, but deemed himself talentless.
Rather than enlist to fight in the Civil War in 1861, William James claimed poor health and attended Harvard University's Lawrence Scientific School only to switch to Harvard Medical School because he foresaw potential money problems. When James contracted smallpox during an Amazon expedition, he decided to take time off from Harvard to travel around Europe and study medicine before finally graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1869.
William James spent three years living at home in a state of depression before being offered a position teaching comparative physiology at Harvard in 1872. Soon he began to arouse interest in psychology, opening up a lab of experimental psychology at a time when phrenology and Scottish mental philosophy were the only forms being taught in the United States. Soon enough, James developed an interest in philosophy and began to teach classes in 1879, a year later becoming assistant professor of philosophy.
Publisher Henry Holt enlisted William James to write a textbook on psychology in 1878. It would take 12 years for James to finish the two-volume 1,200-page work--long past the original due date. The result, The Principles of Psychology, was published in 1890 and would come to be known as his greatest achievement.
The Principles of Psychology contain James' main philosophical ideas, encompassing his main disciplines of psychology, philosophy, and physiology. The book's most famous chapter, "The Stream of Thought," attempts to paint human consciousness as being akin to an ever-flowing stream of thoughts and ideas.
In 1897 James published "The Will to Believe and Other Essays," a popular compilation of previously published essays regarding such topics as religion and morality. In the title essay, for example, James analyzes and defends religious belief.
"Varieties of Religious Experience," continues James' analysis of religion. Rather than analyze specific belief systems, James looks at the actual human experience of one who believes in religion such as their thoughts and feelings.
In the early 20th Century, James became interested in pragmatism and eventually published a book, "Pragmatism," in 1907. The book was heavily criticized, as were his follow-ups "A Pluralistic Universe" and "The Meaning of Truth."
After James' death in 1910, a posthumous collection was published in 1812, called "Essays in Radical Empiricism."
Because James approached psychology with his personal interest in art and philosophy, many claimed that "The Principles of Psychology" was too personal and literary to be considered a psychology tome, much less a classroom textbook. James' literary style also caused some to claim that William James was the real novelist in his family while his brother Henry was the psychologist posing as a novelist.
As a result of these criticisms, Holt persuaded James to create a shorter version for classroom application. The result was titled "Psychology: The Briefer Course," which earned the nickname "The Jimmy" while the long version was called "The James."
William James was no stranger to controversy. For example, his essay "The Will to Believe" was accused of promoting that people carry illogical beliefs. Study of pragmatism was especially problematic, as it was subject to heavy criticism and misinterpretation as an self-serving philosophy.