Abstract

William James, phenomenologist and pragmatist, wrote and lectured much for the general public that was meant to be inspiring, liberating, and constructive for the practical needs of living. He was, in short, along with many other accomplishments, a philosophical counselor. In this essay, I look at his Ingersoll Lecture at Harvard as an example of James addressing the spiritual malaise of the age. The target issue, life after death, leads James into several conceptual revisionings that have profound human consequences