"One Moment in the World's Salvation": Anarchism and the Radicalization of William James
Author(s): Deborah J. Coon
Source: The Journal of American History, Vol. 83, No. 1 (Jun., 1996), pp. 70-99
Published by: Organization of American Historians
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"One Momentin the
World'sSalvation":
Anarchismand the
Radicalizationof WilliamJames
DeborahJ. Coon
inPragmatism
condemned
Intheopening
(1907),WilliamJames
pagesoftheessays
In introducing
ofcontemporary
his
abstraction
theshallow
religious
philosophies.
I. Swift"
thenameof"thatvaliantanarchistic
writer
Morrison
point,he conjured
at lengthregarding
theurgent
ofthenation's
unemandquotedSwift
problems
thatboththetranscendental
idealism
ployed.
James
urgedhisauditors
andreaders
schooland thetheismofcontemporary
oftheneo-Hegelian
Protestantism
were
outoftouchwiththe"tangled,
andperplexed"
muddy,
painful
abstract,
"refined,"
Whatwasneeded,Jamesexplained,
waspragmaworldofrealhumanexperience.
thatwouldbe better
attunedto thecrying
needspointedout
tism,a philosophy
bySwift.'
ToJames's
theallusion
toSwift
wasrichly
packedwithmeaning,
contemporaries
forhisnamehad beencommonnewspaper
fareformorethana decade.Swift
writer
andradical
ofthenation's
wasanAmerican
unemployed,
achieving
organizer
thedepression
ofthe1890sbyorganizing
marches
oftheunemnotoriety
during
Indeed,as Alexander
Keyssar
has
ployedin Bostonand,in 1894,toWashington.
oftheunemployed
thattookplaceinBoston
written,
"Every
majordemonstration
IsaacSwift."2
between1894and 1914wasled byMorrison
ofscienceand holdsa jointappointment
to thepsychology
DeborahJ.Coon is a historian
and history
departments
of New Hampshire.
at the University
I am indebtedto a numberof individualsfortheirencouragement
and criticism
of thisworkat various
stages:RichardBlack, George Cotkin,Paul Croce, RobertCrunden,Paul Dulany, Donald Fleming,David
JamesKloppenberg,RobertRichards,BarbaraRosenkrantz,
and a numberof anonymousreviewers.
Hollinger,
I wouldliketo extendspecialthanksto CaseyBlakeand David Thelenfortheircontinuing
supportand advice.
I thanktheBeineckeRareBook and Manuscript
ofYale University,
the MillerLibrary
of ColbyCollege,
Library
the Schlesinger
the HoughtonLibraryof HarvardUniversity,
Libraryof RadcliffeCollege, and BayJamesfor
permissionto cite unpublishedsources.Portionsof the researchforthis articlewerefunded by a Whiting
Predoctoral
Fellowshipat the NationalMuseumof
Fellowshipin the Humanities,a SmithsonianPostdoctoral
at the CharlesWarrenCenterat HarvardUniversity.
AmericanHistory,and a researchfellowship
' WilliamJames,
H. Burkhardt,
ed. Frederick
FredsonBowers,and IgnasK. Skrupskelis
Pragmatism,
(Camdeliveredin 1906 as a seriesof
bridge,Mass., 1975), 20-21. The essays,publishedin 1907, wereoriginally
public lecturesat the LowellInstitutein Boston.Ibid., 17-18.
2 Alexander
Keyssar,Out of Work:TheFirstCentury
of Unemployment
in Massachusetts
(Cambridge,Eng.,
1986),210-49, esp. 225; see also William0. Reichert,
"The Melancholy
PoliticalThoughtofMorrison
I. Swift,"
70
TheJournalof AmericanHistory
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June1996
James
ofWilliam
andtheRadicalization
Anarchism
71
as thenew
deviceto setup pragmatism
Jamesused Swift'snameas a rhetorical
ratherthanavoid the problemsof the modern
philosophythatwould confront
was not an
world.James'schoiceof Swiftratherthan moremoderatereformers
the culminationof a decade duringwhichhe had
one; it represented
arbitrary
events
becomeincreasingly
radicalin his thinking.As Jameswitnessedimportant
War,theinvasionofthePhilippines,
ofthe1890s,especially
theSpanish-American
and Americans'reactionto the Dreyfusaffairin France,he becameincreasingly
distressedby the directionAmericansocietyseemed to be taking.It seemed to
thegovernment,
-the military,
to as "big" forces
himthatwhathe oftenreferred
predominant
and trusts-werebecomingincreasingly
the growingcorporations
scaleand powerofinstitutions,
withinAmericansociety.As he viewedthegrowing
he confided
in hisownthinking;
and anarchistic
he becamemoreanti-institutional
toWilliamDean Howellsin 1900,"I am becomingmoreand morean individualist
and anarchistand believerin smallsystemsof thingsexclusively."3
One of the greatdangers,as Jamescame to see it, was thatin thefaceof these
forces,the individualand the small groupseemed to be
big institutionalizing
The resultwasthatpeoplelosthope in theirabilityto makea difference,
powerless.
to changethingsforthebetter,and theygaveup trying.It becameone ofJames's
even in the
goals to convincepeople thattheiractionscould make a difference
theissuestruck
at theverycoreofAmerican
faceofoverwhelming
odds. ForJames,
identityand its democraticideals of personalfreedomand activeparticipation.
If people ceased to speak out and take actionagainstsocial and politicalevils,
thenlibertybecamea sham. He wroteto his friendand colleagueCarl Stumpf
in 1901,
I should like to. ... write.. . in a way which. . . mightslightlyhelp to
Thereare splendidthingsabout America,but
influenceAmericanideals. .
isthreatening
andaggrandizement
adventure
theoldhumanleavenofnational
andhereditary
forourhistoric
principles.
tosubstitute
itsbruteinstinctive
power
with empireand big forces,Jamesbecame acutely
Throughhis confrontation
to one side or another
sensitiveto the notionthatphilosophieslent themselves
in the affairs
of the world,and it becamecrucialtoJamesto createa philosophy
itfoundthem.4
tendencieswherever
thatwouldtakea standagainstimperializing
49 (Dec. 1976), 542-58. The New EnglandIndustrialDelegationthatSwiftled to
New England Quarterly,
fromJacobCoxey'sarmyof the unemployed.
Washingtonwas different
see DeborahJ. Coon,
of AlfredDreyfusand its aftermath,
3 ForJames'sreactionto the 1894 conviction
(Ph.D. diss.,Harvard
Pragmatism"
FoundationsofWilliamJames's
withAnarchy:The Socio-political
"Courtship
see also George Cotkin, WilliamJames,Public
1988), 171-88. On Jamesand anti-imperialism,
University,
areFrankLentricchia,
anti-imperialism
ofJames's
treatments
1990),123-51.Other,briefer
Philosopher(Baltimore,
" inReconstructing
American
1890-1913:TheExampleofWilliamJames,
"On theIdeologiesofPoeticModernism,
(Cambridge,Mass., 1986), 220-49; Gerald E. Myers,WilliamJames:
History,ed. SacvanBercovitch
Literary
of William
His Lifeand Thought(New Haven, 1986), 435-45; RalphBartonPerry,The Thoughtand Character
(2 vols.,
and Notes,togetherwithHis PublishedWritings
James:As Revealedin UnpublishedCorrespondence
Boston,1935), II, 304-16. WilliamJamesto WilliamDean Howells,Nov. 16, 1900, William Dean Howells
Cambridge,Mass.).
HarvardUniversity,
Papers(HoughtonLibrary,
4 WilliamJamesto [Carl] Stumpf,Aug. 6, 1901, in Perry,
Thoughtand Characterof WilliamJames,II,
199-200. David A. HollingerarguedthatJameswas deeplyconcernedto reassertthe importanceof religious
age: David A. Hollinger,In theAmericanProvince:
(thoughnotofanyorthodoxsort)in a scientistic
commitment
of Ideas (Bloomington,1985), 3-22. See also BennettRamsey,
Studies in the Historyand Historiography
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72
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
June1996
Jamesas an essentially
Priorto thelastdecade or so, scholarstendedto portray
worldof philosophyand
onlyin his professional
apoliticalacademicianinterested
Those who acknowledgedhis interestin politicalaffairstendedto
psychology.
forexample)as instancesofcranky
treathis statedpositions(on anti-imperialism,
to be treatedwitha nudgeand a wink.Evenin his own
Jameseanidiosyncrasies,
For example,he wroteto
day,manyheld thatviewofJames'spoliticalinterests.
in one ofLutoslawski's
decliningparticipation
Lutoslawski,
hiscolleagueWincenty
schemesregardingPolishpatriotism:
suchaspsychical
withsomanyunorthodox
things,
identified
Mynameisalready
etc., thatif I werenowto
medicine,
mind-cure
anti-imperialism,
research,
as a Polishpatriot
theonlyplaceleftforme in publicesteem
beginto figure
herewouldbe thelunaticasylum!
has attemptedto takeJames'spoliticalinterests
Some excellentrecentscholarship
ourimageofJamesas thesociallyand politically
and to rehabilitate
moreseriously
engagedindividualthathe wasin hislatercareer.So, forexample,JamesKloppenberghas castJamesamong the ranksof activistsocial democrats,while Frank
him as a sortof
have portrayed
JamesLivingston
and, morerecently,
Lentricchia
undeclaredMarxiansocialist.Theirworkon Jameshas provideda much-needed
corrective
to the olderviewof an apoliticalJames.I suggest,however,thatwe
viewJames'spoliticsand activismin a different
light.5
James'semphaticand repeatedinsistencethatthe individual
We have, first,
and thesmallgroupshouldbe themovingforcesin society,thatthesmallerunit
was in all cases"truer,"morevaluable,thanthelargerunitin society-"the man
morethanthe home, the home morethanthe stateor the church."6This steers
us away fromMarxistand social democraticpositionsbecause of the relative
James's
emphasisgiventhe individualvis-a-visthe group. We have, moreover,
anarchismto consider.I hope to convincethe readerthat
own self-professed
Submittingto Freedom:The ReligiousVisionof WilliamJames(New York, 1993); and Paul Croce,Science
1820-1880 (Chapel Hill, 1995). While
and Religionin the Era of WilliamJames,vol. I: Eclipseof Certainty,
the presentessay does not discussJames'sviewstowardscientism,I concurthat scientismwas one of the
in the 1890s:see, forexample,DeborahJ. Coon,
world-shaping
forcesthatJamesbegan to viewas imperialistic
Psychologists
Combat Spiritualism,1880"Testingthe Limitsof Sense and Science:AmericanExperimental
47 (Feb. 1992), 143-51; and DeborahJ. Coon, "Standardizingthe Subject:
1920," AmericanPsychologist,
and Culture,
Ideal," Technology
and the Questfora Technoscientific
Introspection,
Experimental
Psychologists,
34 (Oct. 1993), 757-83.
apolitical,see Daniel W. Bjork,The CompromisedScientist:
ofJamesas essentially
5 For characterizations
(New York, 1983); HowardFeinstein,Becoming
WilliamJamesin the Developmentof AmericanPsychology
WilliamJames(Ithaca,1984); and BruceKuklick,TheRiseofAmericanPhilosophy,Cambridge,Massachusetts,
Jan. 1, 1904, in Perry,Thoughtand Character
1860-1930(New Haven, 1977).Jamesto WincentyLutoslawski,
in
of WilliamJames, II, 216. JamesKloppenberg,UncertainVictory:Social Democracyand Progressivism
"On the Ideologiesof Poetic
Europeanand AmericanThought,1870-1920 (New York, 1986); Lentricchia,
FrankLentricchia,
ArielandthePolice:MichelFoucault,WilliamJames,WallaceStevens(Madison,
Modernism";
and thePoliticalEconomyof CulturalRevolution,1850-1940(Chapel
Pragmatism
1988); andJamesLivingston,
ofnonradical
individualism
butplacesit squarelywithina tradition
Hill, 1994). CornelWestemphasizesJames's
bourgeoisindividualism:see CornelWest, The AmericanEvasionof Philosophy:A Genealogyof Pragmatism
(Madison, 1989).
6 WilliamJames,"NotesforMetaphysical
Seminary,1903-4," in Perry,Thoughtand Characterof William
James,II, 383.
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James
ofWilliam
andtheRadicalization
Anarchism
73
James'sself-labelwas not a frivolousone, and thatviewingJamesas a typeof
anarchistbringsus as closeas possibleto
communitarian
late-nineteenth-century
capturingthe essenceof his worldviewand perhapscloserto seeingJamesas he
saw himself.
Throughhis father,HenryJamesSr., WilliamJamessharedthe millennialist
L. Thomashasdescribedas typicalofHenryGeorge,Edward
thatJohn
background
bythoseneo-republican
Bellamy,and HenryDemarestLloyd.The remediesoffered
populiststo some of the same dangersof corporatecapitalismthat concerned
thanhiswere;he remainedstrongly
werein generalmorecollectivist
WilliamJames
in his thinking.Jamesalso standsin contrastto manyof the major
anarchistic
an
in theextentof his anarchistic
leaning.Jamesrepresented
thinkers
Progressive
anarchisandreformist
tradition,
buthe arguedformoreindividualistic,
adversarial
tic solutionsto contemporary
problemsthandid the Progressives.7
Finally,it seemsto be one of theironiesofourera thattheterm"pragmatism"
theveryantonymof "idealism."
has cometo be equated withcrassopportunism,
WhileJamesopposed absoluteIdealism(witha capitalI), he deeplybelievedin
and culturally
and powerofidealsofa morehistorically
contingent
theimportance
sort.The projectofJames'slast decade, as I willshowin thisessay,was precisely
to combatthe big forcessweepingsocietyby revivingand rekindlingbeliefin
Americanidealsofpluralism,tolerance,and individualfreedomand byrestoring
people's faithin the abilityof the individualand the small group- in "small
of things"-to createa betterworld.
systems
Shortlybeforehis death in 1910, Jameswould writein A PluralisticUniverse
(1909) that"philosophyis morea matterof passionatevisionthanof logic."We
eventsof the 1890s to see the
mustlook to James'sresponseto world-shaping
underwhichhis own "passionatevision"developedfocus.In the
circumstances
world
crucialperiodofthemid-to late 1890s,Jamesworkedout hisindividualistic
theoriesand philosophicalconsiderations
earlierpsychological
view- integrating
witheventshe sawtakingplacein theworldaroundhim,so thathislaterpublished
to socialand politicalissues,werereplete
works,whilerarelyaddressedspecifically
would emerge
withallusionsto them. Out of the crucibleof theseexperiences
and radical
The Varieties
ofReligiousExperience(1902), hisessayson pragmatism
a deeplypluralistic
otheressays-all promulgating
and miscellaneous
empiricism,
and anti-institutionalvision.8
Priorto the 1890s,WilliamJameswas not muchengagedby politicalevents.
to variouselections,to the Irishpoliticalsituation,
He made passingreferences
America:HenryGeorge,EdwardBellamy,HenryDemarestLloyd,and the
7John L. Thomas,Alternative
views,see Robert
Adversary
Tradition(Cambridge,Mass., 1983), 35. For a discussionof leadingProgressives'
1889-1920(New
in AmericanCivilization,
Achievement
ofReform:TheProgressives'
MorseCrunden,Ministers
York, 1982).
8 WilliamJames,
H. Burkhardt,
A Pluralistic
ed. Frederick
FredsonBowers,and IgnasK. Skrupskelis
Universe,
H. Burkhardt,
ed. Frederick
ofReligiousExperience,
(Cambridge,Mass., 1977),81. WilliamJames,The Varieties
(Cambridge,Mass., 1985).
FredsonBowers,and Ignas K. Skrupskelis
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74
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
June1996
questionin his lettersto his brotherHenryand his
and to the womansuffrage
sister,Alice, but thoselettershardlysuggestedintenseinterest;in any case his
opinions remained private.
wastheexpansionist
outofhisrelativecomplacency
WhatseemedtoshakeJames
in the Spanish-American
mood of the United Statesin the 1890s, culminating
Warand thecontinuedAmericanpresencein thePhilippines.Priorto the 1890s,
the UnitedStateshad appearedto manyof its citizensto live accordingto the
-government of the people, by the people, forthepeople.9
idealsof democracy
But in the 1890s newerideals seemedto be developing.The attemptto annex
(evenat theirbehest)becauseof
Hawaii and the meddlingin Venezuelanaffairs
in thoseplacesseemedtoJamesand manyAmeriUnitedStateseconomicinterests
cans to flyin the face of the older ideals. It appearedas nothingbut thinly
thenationhad stoodforsinceitsown
anathemato everything
veiledcolonialism,
revolutionagainstEngland.
explodedwithangrypoliticalcomIn the mid-1890s,James'scorrespondence
thathe believedthatthenascentideals
It is clearin thiscorrespondence
mentary.
weredue
and theexpansionof economicand politicalterritory
of neocolonialism
of the coarserelementsin the bodypolitic,itsprimitive
to a newpredominance
and its sheermuscularforce.He wroteto WilliamM. Salter
instincts"
"fighting
critics"(he would later
to him that"disinterested
important
thatit was critically
fromthe French)-as the cerebrum
adopt and popularizethe termintellectuals
in theirpowertoresistthe"hardenofthebodypolitic,so to speak-do everything
ing"ofthesenascent,undesirableideals into rigiddogmas.Justas individuals
of theirpersonalhabitsinto
the development
chooseto redirect
couldconsciously
newchannelsofaction,so,JamesarguedinanotherlettertoSalter,thedisinterested
itsenergiesawayfromitswarring
critics
withina societycouldand shouldredirect
ethicallysounderpaths.10
and into constructive,
instincts
the Monroe
Jameswrotea numberof lettersabout the dangersof resurrecting
in 1896.Forexample,he wroteto Salter,
inVenezuelanaffairs
Doctrinetointerfere
evenwithinUnitedStatesborders:
had notyetbeen accomplished
9 Criticspointedout thattruedemocracy
(Minneapolis,1980),
ofIndian-Hating
andEmpire-Building
see RichardDrinnon,FacingWest:TheMetaphysics
307-32.
of William
Jan. 1, 1896,in Perry,Thoughtand Character
10 WilliamJames
WilliamHenryMyers,
to Frederic
James,II, 305. WilliamJamesto WilliamM. Salter,[Feb. 13], 1896, ibid., 306. Salterwas an independent
a leaderin the Chicagobranchof the SocietyforEthicalCulture,and a friendand in-law
scholar-philosopher,
was popularizedduringthe Dreyfus
of WilliamJames(theirwivesweresisters).The term"les intellectuals"
ofintellectuals
of1898.On theemergence
desIntellectuels"
publishedtheir"Manifeste
affair
aftertheDreyfusards
Lasch,The New Radicalismin America,
as a classwithinAmericansocietyduringthisperiod,see Christopher
as a Social Type(New York,1965). WilliamJamesto Salter,Feb. 10, [ 1896],James
1889-1963: TheIntellectual
Papers(HoughtonLibrary).One is temptedto speculatethatif he had livedlong enough,Jameswould have
opposedWorld War I and JohnDewey'ssupportof it. BecauseJamesdied in 1910, however,it was leftto
RandolphBourneto criticizeDewey in theJameseanmode. Bournefeltthat,by supportingthewar,"Dewey
thathe [Bourne]
conditions
thecreative
tensionbetweenidealsand existing
and hisfollowers. . . [were]forsaking
flavorofJames's
anti-institutional
It maywellhavebeen thepacifist,
saw as thecriticaldynamicin pragmatism."
variant
whileDewey'smoresocial-democratic
writings
thatBournehad foundmostappealingaboutpragmatism,
forBourne'staste.See CaseyNelsonBlake,
and stateintervention
institutions
to large-scale
was too sympathetic
ofRandolphBourne,Van WyckBrooks,Waldo Frank,and Lewis
BelovedCommunity:The CulturalCriticism
Mumford(Chapel Hill, 1990), esp. 158.
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75
ofWilliamJames
and theRadicalization
Anarchism
Archives; U.S. Signal
Courtesy National
..P .....1.11-RB-1288
....
_~~~~~Wn
thePhlpie
by
nesppe reot ofsagtr .:in
Ifthere
ever,was a natowhshiorpuit
Buthis
mosivsisentandheal
l
ostcsi
in 19.
in a poito
.........
tesaeuc
1
abot Ameria
Corpo
.,.....SI
ipras
hudtikhttedt
thinkthapi
Wilan
lan Jaethicalsocalety
ofthei 89duty9.
aethic apallscety
inationa
soutle
battle soul
naionalh
Flperanntkle
Flperanntskle
Caupt
i thanohlipntes
hadning8sid
ouhtt bewtoawork
reonrthe
looseninghrther
oh
ilippine, Jaesceexlaie
Iod
tish
to
Hepave
you might
be mad
begainhanurye88
evirwsanctiongpholeisticalviuperationtapstiwoulnotesabatforh
ih
Satherbecmamesinvoledeineducatind feffortks
adwhenno
severalmoresyears.
to disbelieve
in our mission
of impregnating
the Philipine's
[sic] with American
idealsand educatingthem for freedom.You may depend on it that it is sheer
illusionand can only mean rottennessand ruinto them."11ForJames American
idealswereappropriateonlyforthe Americanpeople, thatis, forthe people who
WilliamJames to Salter, Feb. 10, [1896], Jan. 5, 1898, James Papers.James'sspelling of "Philippines"
waserratic;I have triedto maintain the peculiaritiesof his spelling.
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76
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
June1996
developedthemorwerebornintothem.If othersadoptedthemvoluntarily,
that
was one thing,but to imposethoseideals on anotherpeople was botharrogant
and pernicious.He wouldgivethismessagepublicshapein lettersto editorsand
in his essay"On a CertainBlindnessin Human Beings,"to be discussedbelow.
In June1898,Jameswentto thepublicprotestat FaneuilHall in Bostonthat
markedthebeginnings
oftheAnti-Imperialist
League. Duringthelate 1890sand
early1900s,Jameswrotelettersto editorsof the BostonEveningTranscript,
the
the
and
New
York
Tribune
Republican,
with
evaluations
of
lengthy
Springfield
contemporary
social and politicalevents.Duringthis period,he also began to
keep a scrapbookin whichhe pasted newspaperarticlesand printedmaterials
relatingto United Statesimperialismand the activitiesof the Anti-Imperialist
League. He collectedbooks on the psychology
of war. Indeed, so intensewas
in politicalaffairs
James'sinterest
bythelate 1890sthathis doctorcautionedhim
to avoid politicaland philosophicalcontroversy
forthe sake of his physicaland
mentalhealth.Instead,he embracedsuch controversy
witha vengeance.12
As Americanactionin the Philippinesshiftedfroma war againstSpain to a
waragainstthe Filipinonationals,reportsbeganto filterin concerning
the huge
numberofFilipinocasualtiesrelativeto thoseoftheUnitedStatesand concerning
of theUnitedStatessoldiers.The "war"beganto appearto
the generalbrutality
Jameswas
manyAmericansas littlebetterthan a slaughterof unfortunates.
he
links
in
and
to
draw
the
appalled,
began
betweenevents
Philippinesand those
Americansociety.He wrotetohisbrother
throughout
Henryin lateFebruary
1899,
Ournationalinfamy
is I fearirremediable,
afterourmassacring
ofthesepoor
The
withwhomwehaverefused
filipino
"rebels"
toholdanycommunication.
newsdayof"big"ness-bignational
destinies,
political
parties,
trade-combines,
papers,is sweeping
every
goodprinciple
and qualityoutof theworld.
13
Echoingthesesentiments
two dayslater,he complainedto HenryW. Rankin
of thesesame big forcesand added:
Theresounding
Itistimetoorganize
anopposition.
idolofmereempty
"bigness"
and "success"
is killingevery
genuinequalityand ideal.Was thereeversuch
a nationalinfamy
as theFilippinebusiness
whichwe areenacting?
Andthe
& Co.,which
weswallow
loathsome
cantofMcKinley
withitasitssauce!1'4
greasy
Nationalism,politicalparties,yellownewspapers,monopolies-to James,all
were instancesof a growingtendencytowardcorporateenterprise,
towardthe
12james wroteto friendsabout attendingthe protestat Faneuil Hall: see, forexample,WilliamJamesto
in the 1890s, see, forexample,RobertL.
FrancoisPillon,June 15, 1898,JamesPapers.On anti-imperialism
1898-1900 (New York, 1968); E. Berkeley
Tompkins,
Beisner,TwelveagainstEmpire:The Anti-Imperialists,
Anti-Imperialism
in the UnitedStates: The GreatDebate, 1890-1920 (Philadelphia,1970); and RichardE.
War,1899-1902 (Chapel
WelchJr.,Responseto Imperialism:The UnitedStatesand thePhilippine-American
Hill, 1979). WilliamJames,scrapbook,"A collectionofnewspaperclippingsrelatingto thePhilippinequestion,
filmW 11316 (HoughtonLibrary,HarvardUniversity).
In the list of James'sbooks
1899-1903"(microfilm),
of bookson thepsychology
of war.For
donatedto the HarvardCollegeLibraryin 1923, thereis a subcategory
the doctor'scautioning
James,see WilliamJamestoJamesMarkBaldwin,Oct. 16, 1899,JamesPapers.
and ElizabethM. Berkeley,
13 WilliamJamesto HenryJamesJr.,Feb. 20, 1899, in Ignas K. Skrupskelis
1992-1995), III, 50.
eds., The Correspondence
of WilliamJames(4 vols., Charlottesville,
14 WilliamJamesto HenryW. Rankin,Feb. 22, 1899,JamesPapers.
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James
ofWilliam
andtheRadicalization
Anarchism
77
thatwould take on livesof theirown. In
of massiveinstitutions
establishment
honesty,
sincerity,
suchan era, individualvirtuesseemedpowerless;"principles,
delicacy[are]all overwhelmed."'5The scaleof thingswassimplygrowingbeyond
analogywrittena fewdayslater,James
individuals'abilityto cope. In a striking
crushingof the Filipinorebel leaderEmilio
comparedthe Americanmilitary's
Aguinaldoto "the infernaladroitnessof the greatdepartmentstore,whichhas
and withno publicsquealing
in theartofkillingsilently
expertness
reachedperfect
"16
smallconcern.
or commotionthe neighboring
War providedJamesand his fellowAmericansa rude
The Spanish-American
politicaleducation.One beginsto seeJames,the unquenchableoptimist,fraying
withindignationoverthe plightof innocents,over
aroundthe edges, bristling
thefateofindigenouspeoplesin thefaceofforceshell-benton worlddomination.
four-pageletterin February1899 to the editor
He wrotean angryand frustrated
Alludingto his own earliernaivetein letting
of theBostonEveningTranscript.
matterstake theircourse,he wrote:
theirouting;.
instinct
and thepassionof mastery
We gavethefighting
becausewe thoughtthat.
.
idealsand charac. we couldresumeourpermanent
our
without
fitwasdone.We nowseehowwereckoned
terwhenthefighting
whatan absolutesavageand pirate
of examples
host.We see bythevividest
against
is, andhowtheonlysafeguard
always
conquest
thepassionofmilitary
dragthenationthatgiveswayto it is to
thecrimes
to whichit willinfallibly
17
keepit chainedforever;is neverto letit getitsstart.
withoppressed
shouldhavenothingbutsympathy
JamesbelievedthatAmericans
againstforeigndomination.Americansshould-accordingto
peoplesstruggling
by indigenouspeoples,
ideals- believe in self-government
theirconstitutional
instancewas therethan Aguinaldo'snationalist
and what bettercontemporary
"Here," he wrote,
movement-a "healthypiece of nationalself-development"?
"werethe preciousbeginningsof an indigenousnationallife, with which,if
to theseislandsat all, it was our firstdutyto have
we had any responsibilities
18
squaredourselves."
Therewas everyreasonto thinkAguinaldo'smovementcould havesucceeded.
But,Jamescontinued,the United Statesdid not give the movementa chance.
and thenturnedagainsthim"as a dangerous
It dupedAguinaldointocooperation
was sedulouslyto be avoided
entanglement
rival,withwhomall compromising
concern."
Yankee
James
the
business
agonized:
great
by
outthesacredest
thingin thisgreat
We arenowopenlyengagedin crushing
to attainthepossession
ofa peoplelongenslaved
-the attempt
humanworld
to be freeto followitsinternal
itslawsand government,
ofitself,
to organize
destiniesaccordingto itsownideals....
No lifeshallyouhave,we say,except
Ibid.
andReviews,ed. Frederick
Essays,Comments,
"The PhilippineTangle,"in WilliamJames,
WilliamJames,
(Cambridge,Mass., 1987), 154-58. It was originally
FredsonBowers,and IgnasK. Skrupskelis
H. Burkhardt,
March1, 1899.
publishedas a letterto the editor,BostonEveningTranscript,
15
16
17 Ibid.,154.
'8 Ibid.' 155.
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ofAmerican
History
TheJournal
78
June1996
to our
submission,
afteryourunconditional
as a giftfromourphilanthropy
will. .
.
. It is horrible,simplyhorrible. . . Could therebe a moredamning
thanthis
civilization"
"modern
ofthatwholebloatedidoltermed
indictment
corrupting,
is, then,the big, hollow,resounding,
amountsto? Civilization
and irrationality
of merebrutalmomentum
torrent
confusing
sophisticating,
fruits
likethis!19
thatbrings
forth
This is a Jameswe have not heardbefore-a man angryto the depthsof his
beingbecausehis own people, the Americanpeople whoseolderidealshe loved
moralwrongto happenin theirname. An
so well,wereallowingan irremediable
attemptsat
indigenouspeople, with its own customs,mores,and struggling
was being crushedunderthe sheermuscleand overautonomousgovernment,
and corporateinterests.
whelmingscaleof Americanmilitary
Jameshad begunto takeaction,and he wouldcontinueto takeactionthrough
theselessonsintohisintellectual
incorporating
otherletters
toeditorsandtofriends,
meaningexamplesandallusionsrichly
workandfilling
thatworkwithsociopolitical
He would encourageothersto take actionalso, as he
ful to his contemporaries.
did in thisletterto the Transcript:
underfullheadway
withimperialism
individual,
oftheprivate
Theimpotence
has a voiceor a pen,and
indeed.ButeveryAmerican
as it is, is deplorable
words.
mayuseit. So, impelledbymyownsenseofduty,I writethesepresent
itself.20
willorganize
andtheopposition
cover,
One byoneweshallcreepfrom
What Jamesadvocatedforthe Philippineswas simplythat the Filipinosbe
on theirown. It wouldnotbe
allowedto workout a viablesystemof government
to
appropriate
hewrote,buttheendresultwouldbe a government
withoutstruggle,
internalideals,notone imposedon thembysomeforeign
theFilipinos'particular
power.For Americansinsteadto attemptto "sow our ideals, plant our order,
imposeour God" wouldbe to abstracttheseideals,thisorder,thisGod fromthe
Americancontextin whichtheyhad grownand evolved.It would be to ignore
forone people and
thatmade thoseidealsappropriate
thehistorical
contingencies
not foranother.2'
Such lettersto editorsresonatewithideasJamesput forthin the essay"On a
CertainBlindnessin HumanBeings,"publishedin May1899,in hisvolumeTalks
washisfavorite
Thisessay,whichhe toldseveralfriends
to Teacherson Psychology.
in thevolume,is the firstof his publishedworksto bearthe markof his distress
overworldevents.While the date of the essaycannotbe determinedprecisely,
suggeststhatit was mostlikelywrittenin the fall
evidencefromcorrespondence
Thus, it was
of 1898 and was firstread to theologystudentsin late October.22
19
Ibid., 155, 156-57.
20Ibid., 158.
21Ibid., 157.
22 WilliamJames,"On a CertainBlindnessin Human Beings,"in WilliamJames,Talks to Teacherson
FredsonBowers,and Ignas
H. Burkhardt,
and to Studentson Some of Life'sIdeals, ed. Frederick
Psychology
(Cambridge,Mass., 1983), 132-49. On datingthe essay,see ibid., 243-44.
K. Skrupskelis
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Anarchism
and theRadicalization
ofWilliam
James
79
written
wellafterJames's
concernaboutAmericanimperialistic
activities
had begun
but beforehis spate of lettersto editorsin the springof 1899.
The centralmessageof the essay"On a CertainBlindnessin Human Beings"
was thatall humanswererelatively
ignorantof others'feelings,ideals,goals,and
The lessonJamesdrewwasthis:withrespectto theidealsand feelings
aspirations.
of otherhuman beings,
Handsoff:neither
thewholeof truthnorthewholeofgood,is revealedto
anysingleobserver,
although
eachobserver
gainsa partial
superiority
ofinsight
fromthepeculiarpositionin whichhe stands..
.
. It is enoughto ask of each
ofus thathe shouldbe faithful
to hisownopportunities
andmakethemost
ofhisownblessings,
without
to regulate
therestofthevastfield.23
presuming
Much of the essaywas a plea forrespectforthe "ideal life"- thatis, respect
forthelivesof themystics,
who seemedout ofplace in the
poets,and visionaries
the
everyday
worldbecauseof theirabsorptionin thespirituallife.Superficially,
essayseemedto have littleto do withpoliticalquestions.But it is clearfromthe
book'spreface,whichJameswrotein March1899, thathe perceivedthe essayto
have important
social and politicalimplications.He wrotethatAmericanideals
werein crisis:The "democraticrespectforthe sacrednessof individuality"
had
becomea hollowphrasewithoutmeaning,for"thesephrasesare so familiarthat
"had a passionate
theysoundnowratherdead in ourears,"althoughtheyformerly
innermeaning."Alludingto Americaninterference
in the Philippines,James
wrotethatthe "passionateinnermeaning"of Americanideals could be revived
"ifthe pretensionof our nationto inflictitsown innerideals and institutions
vi
et armisupon Orientalsshouldmeetwitha resistance
as obdurateas so farit has
been gallantand spirited."Jamescalled upon Americansto resistthe nation's
newcareerofimperialism
and to rekindlethedyingflamesoftheancientAmerican
ideals of democratictoleranceand individualism.24
In short,in his preface,Jamesconnected"the pluralisticor individualistic
- an essentialcharacteristic
of pluralistic
philosophy"withpoliticalconsequences
and thisimplieda policy
philosophywas its democratic
respectforindividuality,
in the Philippines.25
of noninterference
It may be significant
thatthe political
in
in
March
were
the
written
implications
drawn
preface,
1899, and not in the
essayitself,probablywrittenthe precedingfall. It suggeststhatJameswas only
hisexisting
theorieswithcontembeginningat thistimeto integrate
philosophical
incensedbytheseeventsduring
porarypoliticalevents,as he becameincreasingly
and March.
February
In February1899, he wrote,"The dayof 'big'ness. . . is sweepingeverygood
principleand qualityout of the world";in April,"I beginto believethatevery
What followsis a well-known
'big' thingis necessarily
corrupt."26
passagefrom
23
24
25
James,"On a CertainBlindnessin Human Beings,"149.
4-5.
on Psychology,
WilliamJames,"Preface,"Talksto Teachers
Ibid.,4.
and Berkeley,eds., Correspondence
of
WilliamJamesto HenryJamesJr.,Feb. 20, 1899, in Skrupskelis
WilliamJames,III, 50; WilliamJamesto HenrySidgwick,April30, 1899,JamesPapers.
26
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80
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
June1996
a letterofJune 1899 to SarahWymanWhitman,a closefriendofJames's.The
James'slove of the individual,a
passage has usuallybeen takento exemplify
The passage
love stemmingfromthe long traditionof Americanindividualism.
forJamesmuchmorethanthis.The warhad servedto focusattention
represents
and
the military,
and manyof his contemporaries-onthe nexusof industry,
thatis, on the big forcesthatwereworkingto changethe
foreignexpansionism,
sensitiveto the implicationsof
James,increasingly
shape of the worldforever.
thesechanges,wrote:
in all theirforms;and [I am] withthe
I am againstbignessand greatness
stealing
toindividual,
from
individual
thatwork
moralforces
molecular
invisible
or likethe
of theworldlikeso manysoftrootlets
in through
thecrannies
of man's
monuments
thehardest
oozingof water,and yetrending
capillary
theunityoudealwith,thehollower,
pride,ifyougivethemtime.Thebigger
is thelifedisplayed.
So I am against
themorebrutal,themoremendacious
againstall big
andforemost,
as such,nationalonesfirst
all bigorganizations
whichalways
oftruth
forces
andinfavor
oftheeternal
successes
andbigresults,
always,
unsuccessful
way,under-dogs
andimmediately
workin theindividual
tillhistory
comesaftertheyarelongdead,and putsthemon thetop.27
alarmat politicalevents
thispassagein thelightofhisincreasing
Reexamining
phase in James'sthinkingin the 1890s,it is clearthatit markeda transitional
to a moreradicalstance
froman implicitacceptanceof moderateindividualism
thatJameshimselfwould soon label anarchism.
of anti-institutionalism
In November1900,JameswrotetoWilliamDean HowellsfromRome.He penned
hopesthatHowellsopposedthe "philippinewarof conquest,"becausethewhole
war"meanssimplythedeathof theold Americansoul." Withhisnextpenstroke,
Jamescontinued,
in
and believer
and anarchist
I am becoming
moreandmorean individualist
ofevery
ofthings
exclusively....I thinkthat"lesintellectuals"
smallsystems
the
offighting
intoa leagueforthepurpose
oughttobandthemselves
country
overtheworld.28
thatis pouring
waveofsavagery
This excerptis packed withmeaning.First,it refersto the two issueswhose
-explicitly to the Spanishunfoldingled Jamesto condemnbig organizations
to the Dreyfusaffair(les intellectulshavingbeen
AmericanWar, and implicitly
coinedbytheDreyfusards).
Second,it revealsthatJameswas beginningto define
himselfas an anarchistin oppositionto theseevents.If bignesswas overtaking
thesmaller,thenJameschoseto champion"smallsystems
theworldand crushing
into ever-larger
If the restof the worldwas incorporating
of thingsexclusively."
27 WilliamJamesto SarahWymanWhitman,
June7, 1899, in HenryJames,ed., The Lettersof William
James(2 vols., Boston,1920), II, 90. In the letter,thispassage is actuallyjuxtaposedwithdiscussionsof the
Dreyfusaffairand democracy.
28
WilliamJamesto Howells,Nov. 16, 1900, HowellsPapers.
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ofWilliam
James
Anarchism
andtheRadicalization
81
of organization,thenJamessaw himselfincreasingly
as an individualist
systems
and anarchist.
The term
meritsexploration.
WhatJamesmeantbycallinghimselfan anarchist
withone arm
anarchismtodaytypically
conjuresthe image of the revolutionist
a bomb. The readingpublicin the United
raised,poisedin the act of throwing
Statesin thelate 1880sand 1890sdid nothavesolelytheimageoftheanarchist-asin the
anarchism
revolutionist.
It had competing,pacifistimagesof evolutionary
of
popularanarchistwritings
BostonCircleof anarchists
and in the increasingly
PeterKropotkinand Leo Tolstoy.Daily newspapersdiscussedthe varioustypes
of anarchism,especiallyafterthe 1886 riotsat the Haymarket
in Chicago,and
theyoftensingledout Kropotkinand Tolstoyfor approvalin contrastto the
amongthevarioustypesofanarchism,
Haymarket
anarchists.
Forall thedifferences
the commonthreadrunningthroughall was that any permanentinstitutional
was oppressiveand undesirable.Manyanarchists
believedthatcommustructure
in theprocessofhuman
nity,order,and temporary
ruleswouldarisespontaneously
interaction
to coverspecificsituations,but to codifylaw and orderwas to render
and to give the deathblowto human
it inflexibleto changingcircumstances
to "socialistic"
or
liberty.Typesof anarchists
rangedfromextremeindividualists
"communitarian"
who held thatcommunity
was extremely
important
anarchists,
but thatit mustbe freelyformed,freelymaintained,and noncoercive.29
oftheHaymarket
Jameswasdistinctly
to thesocialrevolutionism
unsympathetic
anarchists,
and he refusedto signa petitionforclemencycirculatedby William
in at leastsomekinds
Salter.30
James'sinterest
AftertheHaymarket
riots,however,
of anarchism
tooka morepositiveturn.Thereis good reasonto believethatthe
in anarchism
and education
seedofJames'seventualinterest
layin hisupbringing
in the home of the unorthodox
intellectualHenryJamesSr., who countedboth
and utopiansocialistsamong his friendsand whose own philosophy
anarchists
Fourierist
was a peculiarblendingof New Englandtranscendentalism,
socialism,
31'Whileit is notpossibleto pinpoint
ofEmmanuelSwedenborg.
and thethinking
masses
the evidenceforhis interestin anarchism
WilliamJames'sturnprecisely,
aroundthelate 1890s,at theheightofhisdisaffection
withAmericanimperialism.
Indeed, his positiveviewof anarchismprobablygrewat least partlyout of his
involvement
withthe Anti-Imperialist
League.
29 Fora fuller
UnitedStatesand ofJames's
in thelate-nineteenth-century
discussionofvarietiesof anarchism
Portraits
(Princeton,
See alsoPaulAvrich,
Anarchist
withAnarchy."
interest
insomeofthem,seeCoon, "Courtship
1988); Ronald Creagh,LAnarchismeaux Etats-Unis(Anarchismin the United States)(2 vols., Paris, 1986);
(writtenby PeterKropotkin);and William0. Reichert,
Encyclopaedia
Britannica,11thed., s.v. "Anarchism"
account
Partisansof Freedom:A Studyin AmericanAnarchism(BowlingGreen, 1976). For a contemporary
of the
that distinguished
the "trueanarchism"of Leo Tolstoyand PeterKropotkinfromthe revolutionism
and theChicago
see Gen. FrancisA. Walker,"The Difference
betweentheTrueAnarchist
Haymarket
anarchists,
Oct. 25, 1887, p. 5. Walkerwas presidentof the Massachusetts
Bomb-Throwers,"
BostonEveningTranscript,
articleis a condensationof a talkhe had given.
Institute
of Technology;the Transcript
with
30 Details of Salter'spublic activities
in behalfof the Haymarket
anarchists
and of his correspondence
Jamescan be foundin Coon, "CourtshipwithAnarchy,"56-70.
31 See Coon, "Courtship
withAnarchy,"36-45; AlfredHabegger,The Father:A Lifeof HenryJamesSr.
(GrandRapids,1969);
(New York,1994); DwightW. Hoover,HenryJamesSr. and theReligionof Community
HaroldYoung, ThePhilosophy
R. W. B. Lewis,TheJameses:
A FamilyNarrative
(NewYork,1991); and Frederic
of HenryJamesSr. (New York, 1951).
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June1996
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
82
burd
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t hots;
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em whisky IWe'v the blood
nd load ith. downwith
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torladoard
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ofigMr.Utmos.H
ndefrmThe pmen
o"The
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y staueotew
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And poritileg andtrigt
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res
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;tinC150
sayg"
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They haVOraocheerful
ThMn Bud n debt, liefttl
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nkg
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rwh;,
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. .............
,
and his familykepton the Philippines
Partialpage froma scrapbookWilliamJamnes
At the bottom,ErnestH. Crosby'sparodyof Rudyard
and anti-imperialism.
Kipling'spoem 'The White Man's Burden."Upper left,the last
stanza of Kipling'spoem; upper right,the finalpart
of anotherparodyby HenryLabouchere.
HarvardUniversity, film
W]11316.
Library,
By permission of theHoughton
The Anti-Imperialist
League comprisedindividualsof all politicalstripesand
moral stances-nativists,racists,reactionaries,democrats,republicans,mugand socialists-unitedonlyby theircommonbelief
wumps,pacifists,anarchists,
on foreignsoil. To point to
that the United States should not be interfering
does not per se implyany
the
in
League
involvement
Anti-Imperialist
someone'2s
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Anarchism
andtheRadicalization
ofWilliam
James
83
particular
politicalradicalism.ButJamesseemsto have met,corresponded
with,
and readthe worksof some of the moreradicalamongthe anti-imperialists.
He
wouldhave heardof MorrisonSwiftin thedailynewspapers,
but it was probably
Swift'santi-imperialist
book Imperialismand Liberty(1899) thatfirstattracted
Jamesto Swift'swork.Jamesowned a copy and subsequentlyacquiredtwo of
Swift'slaterbooks,one of themHuman Submission(1905), the book thatJames
singledout forattentionin Pragmatism.32
Anotherimportant
anti-imperialist
contactforJames
wasErnestHowardCrosby,
an AmericanTolstoyanpacifist-anarchist
and the head of the New York branch
oftheAnti-Imperialist
League.Crosbywrotean anti-imperialist
parodyofRudyard
Kipling's"The WhiteMan'sBurden";it was quitewellknown,andJamespasted
a copyofit in hisanti-imperialist
scrapbook.In 1901 CrosbysentJamesa volume
of his anarchistic
poems, Plain Talk in Psalm and Parable (1899), and James
repliedthathe felt"the strongest
sympathy"
with"theirspirit. . . forI believe
in Tolstoi-anism
(so to call it forshort)as thebestlife,yetlie myself
in thebonds
ofmammon,andthinksomedenunciation
calledfor."James
questioned,however,
whether"in so inveighingagainstthe competitive
and capitalisticsocial system
at large,you don't take a targetboth too big and too invulnerable."33
Insteadof attackingso vastand invulnerable
a targetas the capitalistsystem,
Jamesadvocatedsettingup smallanarchistic
communities
thatwouldmodel the
value of cooperation.In thatway,humanrapaciousness,
a real and presentevil,
mightbe eliminatedfromthe race by exampleand activechoice.He wrote:
Andso longas freedom
isn'tthewayfortheloversof theidealto
remains,
foundsmaller
. . . [T]hrough
communities
whichshouldshowa pattern?
small
lineofbetterment
and salvation.
systems,
keptpure,liesonemostpromising
and tryit. I am tooill (and tooold!)
Whywon'tsomeanarchists
gettogether
orI mightchipin myself.34
In short,
Jameshopedthat,throughbuildingsmall,viablecommunities,
anarchists
couldseta contagiousexamplethatmight,in theevolutionary
longrun,eliminate
ruthlesscompetitionand martialtendenciesfromthe race. Throughevolution
and constructive
the
exampleratherthan throughrevolutionand destruction,
anarchistcause had the mosthope of long-term
success.
32 A partiallist ofJames'sbooks is keptin the HoughtonLibrary.
James'sunmarkedcopies of MorrisonI.
Swift,Imperialismand Liberty(Los Angeles, 1899) and MorrisonI. Swift,Marriageand Race Death: The
Foundations
ofan Intelligent
SystemofMarriage(NewYork,1906) arenowalso housedin theHoughtonLibrary.
33James'scopies of ErnestHoward Crosby'sand RudyardKipling'spoems are found in WilliamJames,
scrapbook,"A collectionof newspaperclippingsrelatingto thePhilippinequestion,1899-1903,"filmW 11316
(HoughtonLibrary).The scrapbookmayhave been kept by William,Alice, and theirchildren;it containsa
in the margins.ErnestHowardCrosby,Plain Talk in Psalmand Parable (Boston,
fewdifferent
handwritings
1899).See Perry
Tolstoyan
Antimilitarist
and Anti-imperialist,"
E. Gianakos,"ErnestHowardCrosby:A Forgotten
in PeaceMovements
in America,ed. CharlesChatfield(New York,1973), 1-19. WilliamJames
to ErnestHoward
Crosby,Oct. 23, 1901, in WilliamJames:SelectedUnpublishedCorrespondence,
1885-1910,ed. Frederick
J.
Down Scott(Columbus,1986), 266.
ed.
34WilliamJamesto Crosby,Oct. 23, 1901, in WilliamJames:SelectedUnpublishedCorrespondence,
Scott,266.
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84
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
June1996
Alsoprobablyin thelate 1890s,Jamesbecameenchantedwithan obscurelittle
book, The Theoriesof Anarchyand of Law: A MidnightDebate, by HenryB.
discussion
American.Ittakestheformofa wide-ranging
a European-born
Brewster,
amongfourfriends.Threeof thempromulgatedvariantsof anarchism:one was
a purelyintellectualanarchist,believingthatno idea should be exaltedabove
who
in the moraland religiousarena,a polytheist
another;one was an anarchist
to be "a van-guardto the armyof the exiled gods"; and
consideredanarchists
withthephilosophical
sympathized
The revolutionist
one wasa socialrevolutionist.
and theologicalanarchismof the othertwo but criticizedthemfortheirlack of
activism.The fourthfigureservedas a foil forthe others,holdingout forlaw
and maintenanceof thestatusquo. Jamesreadthe bookand readit thoroughly.
and highlighting
The intensity
of his interestcan be gauged by his underlining
passageson mostpages,annotatingcertaincrucialpassageswithhis characteristic
variouspassagesto otherpassages,and jottingdown the
NB, cross-referencing
in the flyleaf
of the book.35
ones he consideredmostsignificant
The book is poeticallywritten,and it is easy to understandwhyJameswas
takenwithits styleand content.Throughtheirdiscussion,the threeanarchistic
about thought,language,
thinking
conveyeda rangeof anarchist
together
figures
is a sectionJamesmarked
of
all
ideas,emotions,God, and society.Mostrevealing
howanaraskedthesocialrevolutionist
heavily,a passagein whichthepolytheist
questions.Not onlydidJamesunderlinethispassage
chistsanswertheireveryday
and markit in the marginwitha verticalline, but he also wrotein the margin
reading
struckbytheimageofJamesexcitedly
"NB" and "pragm."One is forcibly
thequeryabouthowanarchists
itin themargin,underlining
thispassage,marking
questions,and penninghis answer-pragmatism.36
answertheireveryday
individualremarks
abouthisphilosophical
Duringthelate 1890s,WilliamJames's
increased.In emphasizmetaphysics
ismand hisdesiretowritea newindividualistic
Kloping the individual,Jameswas not denyingthe importanceof community.
him
to
a
show
be
to
proto-social
penberghas astutelyanalyzedJames'swritings
towarda moremoral
ofindividualsworking
democrat,emphasizinga community
view
Kloppenberg,we can perhapsmoreaccurately
world.Withoutcontradicting
anarchist.The relative
communitarian
Jamesas a typeof late-nineteenth-century
ratherthan
emphasiswas on the individualsbandingtogetherin communities,
of individuals.The difference
mayseemslight,but asJames
on thecommunities
35 HenryB. Brewster,
The Theoriesof Anarchyand of Law: A MidnightDebate (London, 1887). It is not
made duringor after1898;
clearwhenWilliam firstread it, but the annotationsin it were almostcertainly
Jamestwicewrote"pragm"in the margin,and he had not used thattermuntilhis lecturesat the University
Botteghe
and theGallo-American,"
"HenryJames
see HenryC. Brewster,
in thatyear.On Brewster,
ofCalifornia
American
B. Brewster(1850-1908): An Introduction,"
Oscure, 19 (1957), 170-94; MartinHalpern,"Henry
(Ph.D.
14 (Fall 1962), 464-82; and MartinHalpern,"The Lifeand Writingsof HenryB. Brewster"
Quarterly,
Theoriesof Anarchyand of Law, 126.
1959). Brewster,
diss., HarvardUniversity,
NB, thestemof theB completes
and ofLaw, 109-10.InJames'scharacteristic
TheoriesofAnarchy
36 Brewster,
the N.
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Anarchismand the Radicalizationof WilliamJames
him
~
..,-~
~
~
~
~
s a.I
A_
Ah
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-
.
.0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
85
_
,t, so o 'I
x~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WilliamJamesand Paul Ross at Chocorua,New Hampshire,c. 1889-1891. Paul Ross is the
carpenterfriendwhomJamesquoted as saying"Thereis verylittle
difference
betweenone man and another;but what
littlethereis, is veryimportant
c/theHoughton
HarvardUniversity,
Bypermission
Library,
pfcMSAm
1092.
himself
liked to quote a carpenterfriendof his as saying,"There is verylittle
difference
betweenone man and another;but what littlethereis, is vey important."37
In 1900, shortlybeforeJameswroteto ErnestHoward Crosbyregardingthe
idea of formingsmall anarchisticcommunities,he confidedto William Dean
Howellsthat he was becoming"an individualistand anarchist."Later,in 1903,
he wroteto a close friend,Pauline Goldmark,
I amgetting
to be moreand moreofan anarchist
in myideas,though
myself,
whenitcomestoapplying
themtolifeI amhelpless.So I findmyself
moreand
morerespecting
thosewhocantakeholdpractically,
andliveinunconventional
ofactivity.
spheres
to Goldmarkfiveyearslaterand bewailingthe factthata mutualfriend
Writing
plannedto enterthe Episcopalianpriesthood,therebyassertinghis "littletory,
37 Kloppenberg,
UncertainVictory;
WilliamnJames,
The WilltoBelieveand OtherEssays
in PopularPhilosophy
(NewYork,1897), 256.
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86
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
June1996
policemanside,"Jamesexclaimed:"ThankHeaven, I'm stillan
authoritarian,
anarchistand likelyto remainso! What artthou?"38
fromvarioussourcesis thattheformofanarchism
Whatcan be piecedtogether
anarchismJameshad roughlyin mind was a typeof pacifist,communitarian
Jamesplaced the
to be important.
butholdingcommunity
individualist,
strongly
individualwithinan overlappingnetworkof "systems"or communities,some
39
and othersbasedon sympathy,
love,and friendship.
basedon practicalfunctions
Any given individualwas typicallya memberof a large numberof different
communities
or groups.ForJames,individualismdid not mean eitherrugged
or cutthroatcompetition,whichhe viewedas atavismsto earlier
individualism
foreach
stagesof humanevolution.Individualisminsteadmeantthe possibility
and spontaneously
to workout hisorherownidealsin concert
humanbeingfreely
withothersworkingout similarideals.
of his friend
A description
the individualism
thatJamesused to characterize
ThomasDavidsonseemsequallyto describeJames'sown variant:
individual
competition.
No onefeltmoredeeplythanhe theevilsofrapacious
orcommunities,
with
socialsettlements
and flexibly
organized
Spontaneously
seemto havebeenhisideal,eachwithits
leadersas theircentres,
individual
orethicalelements
ofdiscipline.
ownreligious
it
whatever
combinedwithspontaneousand flexibleorganization,
Individualism
maybe called,is anarchism.Such wasJames'sintentionin comparingDavidson
JameswrotethatwhileDavidsonwas an
anarchists."
withother"contemporary
(such as Tolstoy)he
unlikeotheranarchists
and a communitarian,
individualist
neverbelievedin the importanceof "manualoccupation,in orderto sharethe
commonburdenof humanity."40
and socialistexperiments
WhileJamespraisedboth anarchistic
by his friends,
ratherthansocialismbecausehe feared
it seemsthathe leanedtowardanarchism
-by emphasizingthe
systems
thatsocialismheld the dangerof all universalizing
individual
groupovertheindividual,thebiggeroverthesmaller,itmightconstrain
toa groupstandard.Sympathetically
describing
freedombydemandingconformity
utopias
Davidson'sview,Jameswrote:"You askfora freeman,and these[socialist]
organism."
part,'witha fixednumber,in a rule-bound
giveyouan 'interchangeable
at all levelsofsociety,
and standardization
Especiallyin an age ofindustrialization
the antidoteto society'sevilswas not socialism,becausethatmerelyreinforced
humanbeingsinto"interchangeable
parts"
thestandardization
process,rendering
individualism
in a "rule-boundorganism."What was needed was an anarchistic
thatwould emphasizehuman uniquenessand the value of the personalin an
Jan. 30,
38 WilliamJamesto Howells,Nov. 16, 1900, HowellsPapers;WilliamJamesto PaulineGoldmark,
work"withthe
1903,JamesPapers.James,in an earlierletter(now lost),had admiredGoldmark's"socialistic
NationalConsumersLeague. WilliamJamesto Goldmark,Jan. 22, 1908, ibid.
67.
39James,
Pragmatism,
40WilliamJames,Memoriesand Studies(New York, 1911), 95-96.
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James
ofWilliam
and theRadicalization
Anarchism
87
in dangerof becominga mere seriesof
era when humanitywas increasingly
machine.41
cogs in a vastmilitary-industrial
interchangeable
thingforJameswas scale: "The biggerthe unityoudeal
Again,the important
with,thehollower,themorebrutal,themoremendaciousis thelifedisplayed."42
impersonal,
grewlarger,theygrewincreasingly
and institutions
As organizations
human
beings.For
to the needsand desiresof individual
indifferent
increasingly
Jamesthe basisof moralityand social justicehad to lie withthe individual.If
ofindividuals
and communities
socialproblems,thenindividuals
therewerecrying
and public
wouldhaveto addressthem.In thewritings
linkedbytheirsympathies
to restorepeople'ssense
lecturesof his lastdecade,Jameswas tryingdesperately
bureaucraofpowerin thefaceoflargerforcesshapingsociety-theindustrializing,
has so aptlylabeled "the
forcesthatAlan Trachtenberg
tizing,institutionalizing
to convincepeople thatit was
Jameswas attempting
ofAmerica."43
incorporation
to struggleagainstthoseforcesand the socialand politicalevilsthat
imperative
personalismand
sprangfromthem. He located the solutionin an anarchistic
pluralism.
As Jameswas workingon the Giffordlecturesthatwerelaterpublishedas The
thinking
linkedhisanti-imperialist
he frequently
Varieties
ofReligiousExperience,
and
of
rationalism
the
dangers
about
ideas
withhis developingphilosophical
1901
a
in shortas "theAbsolute."In
absoluteidealism,whichhe characterized
letterto ElizabethG. Evans,he burstout, "Damn greatempires!-including that
studyof religiousexperience,the
of the Absolute."44Nominallya psychological
lecturesdeliveredin 1901-1902containedthe germofJames'semerging
Gifford
and epistemologyand strongevidenceof his now ferventantimetaphysics
stance.
institutional
study;it was
The Varieties
ofReligiousExperiencewas notsimplya descriptive
a vindicationof the deeply religiouslife in an era when scienceencouraged
skepticismand scorntowardreligiousbelievers.Jamesarguedthatpassionately
usefultoadd totheworld.Throughtheirselflessness
peoplehadsomething
religious
injustices,the bestof thesereligioustypesactivelyimand devotionto righting
provedthe worldand set an exampleforothersto follow:
Theworldis notyetwiththem,so theyoftenseemin themidstoftheworld's
of theworld,vivifiers
Yet theyare impregnators
affairs
to be preposterous.
forthemwouldlie
but
which
of goodness
of potentialities
and animaters
forever
dormant.'5
41James'spraiseofH. G. Wells'sFabiansocialismiswellacknowledged
His description
in theJamesliterature.
is foundin James,Memoriesand Studies,89.
of ThomasDavidson'sversionof individualism
42 WilliamJamesto Whitman,
June7, 1899, in HenryJames,ed., Lettersof WilliamJames,II, 90.
ofAmerica:Cultureand SocietyintheGildedAge(NewYork,1982).
TheIncorporation
43 AlanTrachtenberg,
reel6), ElizabethGlendower
4 WilliamJamesto ElizabethG. Evans,Feb. 15, 1901, box M84 (microfilm,
College,Cambridge,Mass.).Jamesused thephrase"theAbsolute"
Radcliffe
Library,
EvansPapers(Schlesinger
forAbsoluteTruth,Beauty,Good, God-all abstract,eternalstandards.
as a shorthand
of ReligiousExperience,285.
451James,Varieties
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88
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
June1996
The influenceofJames'sinterest
in socialistand anarchistic
thoughtis evident
inseveralimportant
ofthevalueof"saintly"
passages.Forinstance,in hisdiscussion
people in creatinga betterworld,Jameswrotethat "the saint'smagic giftto
mankind"is thathe or she "is an effective
of goodness,a slowtransmuter
ferment
of theearthlyintoa moreheavenlyorder."He thencontinuedthatsocialistsand
anarchists
had much the same effect:
Inthisrespect
theUtopiandreams
inwhichmanycontemporary
ofsocialjustice
andanarchists
socialists
indulgeare,in spiteoftheirimpracticability
andnonadaptation
topresent
environmental
conditions,
analogous
to thesaint'sbelief
in an existent
kingdom
ofheaven.Theyhelpto breaktheedgeofthegeneral
reignofhardness,
and areslowleavensof a better
order.46
Despite his seemingdismissalin this passage of their"impracticability
and
nonadaptation
to presentenvironmental
conditions,"
Jamesactuallydefendedthe
possibilityof theireventualadaptationto bettercircumstances.
Accordingto
socialDarwinisttheories,it mightseemthatthe saint,themartyr,
contemporary
and the utopianwereevolutionarily
maladaptedforsurvival,sincein a society
witha mixof aggressive
and "non-resistant"
types,theaggressive
wouldwinout.
But,Jamesurged,it was both undesirableand implausiblethatthe aggressive
would win out in the long run, fora societyin whicheveryonewas aggressive
- a society
wouldeventually
itself.The converse,
inwhicheveryone
destroy
however
was "non-resistant"
or pacifist-wasdesirableand plausible:
It is meanwhile
quitepossibleto conceive
an imaginary
society
in whichthere
- anysmall
shouldbenoaggressiveness,
butonlysympathy
andfairness
communityoftruefriends
nowrealizessucha society.
Abstractly
considered,
sucha
on a largescalewouldbe themillennium.47
society
In an era when TheodoreRooseveltand otherAmericanswere toutingthe
virtuesof the aggressive
and competitive
"strenuous
life,"Jamestriedto offeran
withinthe termsof thatevolutionary
alternative
argument.Grantedthatpeople
wantedto counteractthe increasing"effeminacy"
of humankind,he urgedthat
theasceticism
ofmonkswas surelyan alternative,
equallystrenuous
mode of life:
"Maynot voluntarily
acceptedpovertybe 'the strenuouslife,'withoutthe need
ofcrushing
weakerpeoples?"Surelyasceticslivedlivesofhardshipand deprivation
thattoughenedthemtowardthe exigenciesof lifewithoutcompromising
their
moralvirtues.
James'sforemost
modelforthisvoluntary
contemporary
adoptionof
and nonresistance
wasTolstoy.Jamessuggestedthat"voluntarily
poverty
accepted
if morewidelyadopted,would be a new "moralequivalentof war,"a
poverty,"
in thefamousessayofthatname.His purpose
concepthe developedsubsequently
wasnotto bolsterRoosevelt's
calltomartialvirtues,
toaddresscontempobutrather
46 Ibid., 286-87.
47 On socialDarwinism,
see PeterJ.Bowler,Evolution:The Historyofan Idea (Berkeley,1984); and Richard
SocialDarwinism
in AmericanThought(Boston,1955).James,VarietiesofRelgiousExperience,
298.
Hofstadter,
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James
andtheRadicalization
ofWilliam
Anarchism
89
weakeningof thehumanracebyprovidinga
raryworriesabout the evolutionary
pacifistalternative
modeledon Tolstoy'sChristiananarchism.48
gaveto the"strenuous
life,"
Otherhistorians
havediscussedtheemphasisJames
motives
-for example,
buttheyhavetendedto emphasizepossiblepsychodynamic
his need to finda substitute
mode of strenuouslifebecauseof his guiltoverhis
in the CivilWar.49Whilepsychodynamic
motivesmaycerownnonparticipation
life"hereand in "The
tainlyhaveplayeda part,I seehisemphasison the"strenuous
moreimmediately
out ofhisanti-imperialist
MoralEquivalentofWar"as growing
Asmentionedearlier,inthelate1890sJames
cameto seetheintellectual's
concerns.
tendenciesof the bodypolitic.Hence, he
place as fighting
the "coarser"warring
as a remedy
directly
Roosevelt'sand others'call formilitarism
neededto confront
bythehavoc
fortheeffeminacy
ofmodernAmericanculture.Jameswasdistressed
thatthose "martialvirtues"werewreakingin the Philippines,so he soughtto
instilla pacifistbut no less "strenuous"set of virtuesin individualminds,and
therebyin society.
Jamesinsistedon distinguishofReligious
Experience,
Throughout
The Varieties
ing between"religionas an individualpersonalfunction,and religionas an
institutional,
corporate,or tribalproduct,"arguingforthe value of individual
church.
religiousexperienceand againstthat affordedby the institutionalized
was spontaneousand genuine,the churchtendedto
While individualrevelation
and revelation,
makingitsecondhandand sterileforotherpeople.
codifyprophecy
how people shouldact, think,and believe.Thus was
it prescribed
Furthermore,
wickedintellectual
born"religion's
partner,thespiritof dogmaticdominion,the
passionfor layingdown the law in the formof an absolutelyclosed-intheoreticsystem."50
"I am well aware of how anarchicmuch of what I say may sound,"James
as he defendedthe legitimacy
in his lecture"The Value of Saintliness,"
remarked
of a pluralityof typesof faith;but, he added, "I am no loverof disorderand
churchbecausesubjective
doubtas such."Rather,he opposedtheinstitutionalized
lostor corrupted
whenthey
religiousfeelingsand impulsesweretoo frequently
"When thesegroupsget strongenough to 'organize'
becameinstitutionalized:
institutions
withcorporateambitionsof
themselves,
theybecome ecclesiastical
theirown. The spiritof politicsand the lust of dogmaticrule are then apt to
innocentthing."Evenat theage ofsixteen,
theoriginally
enterand to contaminate
"All theevilin theworldcomesfromthelaw and thepriests
Jameshad written,
But in The Varieties
and thesoonerthesetwothingsare abolishedthe better."51
see ibid.,
discussionof Tolstoyannonresistance,
ofReligiousExperience,292. ForJames's
48James,Varieties
adoptedpoverty"
as the "moralequivalentof war"is found
of "voluntarily
126-31, 153-56.James'sdescription
ibid., 292.
The InnerCivil
James,PublicPhilosopher;and GeorgeM. Fredrickson,
49 Forexample,see Cotkin,William
and the Crisisof the Union(New York, 1965).
War:NorthernIntellectuals
50James,Varieties
of ReligiousExperience,268, 271.
51 Ibid., 268. William
Jamesto EdgarB. Van Winkle,March1, 1858,in RalphBartonPerry,The Thought
and Character
of WilliamJames:BrieferVersion(Cambridge,Mass., 1948), 52.
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90
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
June1996
of ReligiousExperiencethe thoughtwas now beinggivena centralemphasisin
his workand beingcastin a new,politicizedlanguage:"Corporateambitions,"
"thelustof dogmaticrule,"and the"spiritofpolitics"everywhere
corrupted
what
theytouched.Ashewouldrepeatedly
do fromthelate 1890son,Jamesemphasized
the particular
overthe general,the personaloverthe institutional.
One finalaspectof The Varietiesof ReligiousExperiencewas a crucialpartof
James'sdevelopingthoughtas he becameincreasingly
anti-institutional
and sought
a way to counterthe big forcesthatweretakingoverthe world:his argument
regarding
thepresenceof evil in theworld.Jamesgrappledwiththeproblemof
evil throughout
his lateryears,bothpubliclyand privately.His treatment
of it
in Varieties
wasfairly
abstract;in hiscorrespondence
and in theessayson pragmatismhe wouldgivefleshto theseabstractions
by citingparticular
socialevils.
on evilin theabstract
James'sargument
wasthis:Ifone believedin an Absolute,
in the eternalexistence
of God, then,ifone admittedtheexistenceof evilat all,
one admittedit forall time. If God was eternal,then so was Evil. But if one
abolishedthe Absoluteand allowedfora pluralistic,
changingworld,therewas
forwhathad alwaysexistedhistorically.
no longeranyphilosophical
necessity
Evil
mightalwayshaveexisted-and surelytherewas ampleevidencethatit had. But
it need not alwaysexistin the future:"it mightbe, and mayalwayshave been,
an independentportion[of reality]thathad no rationalor absoluterightto live
withthe rest,and whichwe mightconceivably
hope to see got rid of at last."52
The crucialthing,accordingtoJameshereand subsequently,
wasto learnfrom
ofreligiouspeople and saintlytypesthroughout
theexperience
withfaith
history;
in betterpossibilities
and throughthe slowaccumulationof individualactsover
time,a betterworldcould,and surelywould,result.If one believedin a changing
realityand workedto bringit about, thenthe ultimategoal of a worldwithout
- in short,the millennium
- was at least
evil, a worldwithouthumansuffering
philosophically
possible.
While launchinghis individualistic
philosophyin the earlyyearsof the century,
work.In December1903,he stoodup publicly
Jamescontinuedhisanti-imperialist
to call for independenceforthe PhilippineIslands,givingan addressto the
Anti-Imperialist
League in Bostonthatwas subsequently
publishedin the New
3
YorkEveningPost.
causewas no longersimplya nationalcause,no
ForJames,the anti-imperialist
longeran attemptmerelyto reviveolderAmericanideals.It had becomea subset
ofan international
humancause,thefightofall thosewhostoodfor"lightagainst
has once
darkness,rightagainstmight,love againsthate." Because"the country
the Declarationof Independenceand the FarewellAddress,"
forall regurgitated
and imperialism
was now well entrenched,
the United Stateshad "deliberately
52James,Varietiesof ReligiousExperience,113
WilliamJames,"Addresson the PhilippineQuestion,"in James,Essays,Comments,and Reviews,ed.
Burkhardt,
Bowers,and Skrupskelis,
81-86.
53
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Anarchism
and theRadicalization
ofWilliam
James
91
pusheditselfintothecircleof international
hatreds,and joinedthecommonpack
of wolves."The dutyof a new breedof "liberals"nowwas to "carry. . . on the
waragainstthepowersofdarkness
here,playingourpartinthelong,longcampaign
fortruthand fairdealingwhichmustgo on in all thecountries
oftheworlduntil
the end of time." In short,"the older liberalismwas in office,the new is in
the opposition."
54
to
his
friend
Writing
JosephineLowellthreedaysafterhis speech,Jameselaboratedon whathe had hoped to accomplishin his anti-imperialist
address,urging
the importanceof protestagainstthe "organization
of greatmachinesfor'slick'
success."He admittedreservations
about theefficacy
oftheanti-imperialist
movementbutwrotethathe had goneto themeeting"becauseI had heardthepeople
ridiculedso much."Explainingwhathe believedto be theimportant
issuesnow,
he continued:
It seemsto me thatthegreatdiseaseofourcountry
nowis theunwillingness
ofpeopleto do anything
thathasno chanceofsucceeding.
The organization
for"slick"successis thediscovery
ofgreatmachines
ofourage; and,withus,
as soonas he realizesthatthemachinewillbe irresistible,
the individual,
ofmaking
animpotent
instead
row.Oneacquiescence
acquiescessilently,
leads
untilacquiescence
toanother,
itself
becomes
Theimpotent
row-maker
organized.
in theeyeofpublicopinion,an assanda nuisance.
We getto live
becomes,
ofcorruption,
undertheorganization
and sinceall needfulfunctions
go on,
we nexttreatreform
as a purelyliterary
ideal:We defendourrotten
system.
. . . We wantpeoplewho arewilling
Acquiescencebecomesactivepartnership.
to espousefailureas theirvocation.I wishthatthatcouldbe organized-it
wouldsoon"passintoitsopposite."55
James'ssocialand philosophicalconcernswereinextricably
mixed;indeed,they
can hardlybe thoughtof as separatecategories.In theabove letterand in letters
He called upon people to stand
to newpapers,he encouragedthe "row-maker."
whentheysaw it occurring,
because
up and protestthe government's
immorality
Protesting
evilmightfailinitially,
"acquiescencebecomesactivepartnership."
but
it "wouldsoon 'pass into its opposite"'-success.
As a professionalphilosopher,however,Jamesprivatelyworriedabout the
philosophicalstatusof rebellion,forit posed an ontologicalproblem:In what
sensecould protestreallychangereality?In a notebookhe titled"Possibility,"
Jamesattemptedto workout the problem.Protestpresupposedthatthe world
better.He puzzled: "In the universeof experience,objectis
could be different,
one thingand protestanother,entitatively,
so it remainsproblematic
whetherthe
orprivileged
protestcan be regarding
[sic]as havinganyparamountcy
position."56
distinction
Jamesresolvedthe problemby invokingthe Aristotelian
between
and potentialities.
actualities
Perhapsprotestofexistingrealitybroughtpotential,
54Ibid.,85-86.
55
56
WilliamJamestoJosephineLowell,Dec. 6, 1903,JamesPapers.
WilliamJames,notebook,"Possibility,"
n.d.,JamesPapers.
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History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
92
June1996
formsof realityinto being. Realitycould changeas thesealternative
alternative
formsof realitybecameactual. He wrote:
resolves
Thequestion
possibility.
toa better
makesatleastreference
Theprotest
is surely
Something
to actualities.
ofpossibilities
itselfthenintotherelation
of
to birth.It is thebeginning
is brought
achieved
whena better
possibility
thebad reality's
death.It gnawsand works+ undermines."
theimportance
andin theessayson pragmatism,
letters
AsJameswrotein numerous
of holdingidealsand havingfaithin thoseidealswas thatholdingidealswas the
into existence.First,one had to believe
firststep in bringingbetterpossibilities
that"Whatis so good, maybe; oughtto be; mustbe, shall be," and thenone
had toworkto bringit about.The germofthisidea had beencontainedin an early
surla methode
essayofJames's,publishedin French,"Quelques Considerations
subjective"(1878). In thatessayJamesarguedforthe importanceof subjective
belief,a themethatwould threadthroughmostof his publishedworkforthe
restof his life.But in the earlyessay,Jamesdid not elaborate-perhaps did not
of his view. His example
even care to see- the social and politicalimplications
in the 1878 essayhad concerneda mountainclimberin the Alps who had to
makea difficult
leap and could onlysucceedifhe believedthathe could succeed.
wouldgenerally
ofthe1890s,James'sexamplesandmetaphors
experiences
Afterhis
58
and hissocialconcerns.
wouldbearthemarkofhisradicalization
be lessfrivolous,
and
IdealswerenoteternalabsolutesforJames.Forhim,idealswereparticular
contingent.
personalratherthanuniversalor absolute,and theywerehistorically
novel,arising
evenevanescent.Ideals could be utterly
Theycould be temporary,
historical
contextwithitsownpeculiarneeds.To James,"ideals"
outofa particular
werenot the empty,abstracthusksof classicphilosophicalidealism,but living
givenbirthby a personwho caredenoughto fight
germsof futurepossibilities,
whichhas made connexionalready
fortheirexistence:an "ideal is a possibility
withsome portionof reality.It is somebody'spossibility:'Hurrah!'forit!"59
Seminary"he gave in 1903-1904,James
In his notes forthe "Metaphysical
thatstressed
thevalue
ofradicalempiricism
outlineda newanarchistic
philosophy
of the individualand the personal:
that
in thegoodsense.It meansindividualism,
personalism:
It meansanarchy
ofreality
is thehereand now;thatthereis a genuinenovelty;
theprototype
is the
thatorderis beingwon,-incidentallyreaped;thatthemoreuniversal
is thetruer,
-the manmore
andmoreintimate
thatthesmaller
moreabstract;
thanthehome,thehomemorethanthestateorthechurch.60
57
Ibid.
WilliamJamesto Baldwin,[Jan.?1899], in Perry,Thoughtand Characterof WilliamJames,II, 243. A
letterof March1899 readsnearlyidentically:WilliamJamesto Rev. F. G. MontaguePowell,March
different
in WilliamJames,
surla methodesubjective,"
12, 1899,JamesPapers.WilliamJames,"Quelques Considerations
(Cambridge,Mass.,
FredsonBowers,and IgnasK. Skrupskelis
H. Burkhardt,
ed. Frederick
Essaysin Philosophy,
331-38.
1978), 23-31; anonymoustranslation,
59 WilliamJames,notebook,"Possibility,"
JamesPapers.
Seminary,"383.
60James,"NotesforMetaphysical
58
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James
and theRadicalization
ofWilliam
Anarchism
93
weretheculmination
of decadesof philosophizing.
James'sessayson pragmatism
A numberof theirelementshad been presentin at leastnascentforminJames's
philosophicalessaysof the 1870s. For example,he had raisedthe issue of "the
Absolute"in an 1879 essay,"The Sentimentof Rationality,"and had written
Definition
on Spencer's
oftruths
and idealsinhisessay"Remarks
abouttherelativity
role
of Mindas Correspondence"
(1878). He had also discussedthe transforming
sur la methode
of beliefsand subjectiveinterests
in "Quelques Considerations
subjective"and "Remarkson Spencer'sDefinitionof Mind."61
weregivenadded forceand purposebyJames's
But the essayson pragmatism
ofthelate 1890s.He had foundhis"passionate
disillusionment
and radicalization
vision."The essayson pragmatism,
unlike the essaysof the 1870s, were shot
to the social and
throughwithmetaphorsand allusionsconnectingpragmatism
in need of reformof
politicalrealm.The worldas Jamessaw it was desperately
all sorts,bothdomesticand international;
pragmatism
washispubliccontribution
to the effort.
In 1899,Jameswroteto a former
studentof his, MaryE.
Radcliffe
Raymond,about his intentionto writea majorworkin philosophyand implicitly
concerns:
linkedhis goal withhis anti-imperialist
I evenbeginto feelas ifI mightend bydoingsomething
whichmightsome
anditmakes
to theworldin thewayofphilosophy,
daybe calledmymessage
me lookforward
to therestoflifewitha certain
amountofinterest.
theworldneedsmessages
ofsomesortin thisdelugeofmilitarism
Surely
thatis sweeping
overit.61
outspokenagainstimperihad becomeincreasingly
Throughout
the 1890sJames
in academicand professional
orworldpolitical
matters
whether
alizingtendencies,
Forexample,in 1894and 1898,he opposedmedicallicensingin Massachuaffairs.
settsbecause he feltit represented
a hegemonicmove by allopathicdoctorsto
sectssuchas faith
gain exclusivecontrolof medicineand to eliminatealternative
healersand homeopaths.He challengedthe standardization
of methodsthatwas
in the 1890s.He also viewedthetrend
takingplace in thedisciplineofpsychology
towardhiringonlyPh.D.'s in highereducationas anotherformofstandardizing,
withus also going
askingin his 1903essay"The Ph.D. Octopus,""Is individuality
to countfornothingunlessstampedand licensedand authenticatedby some
machine?"63
title-giving
Jamesbecameincreasingly
withthegrowing
institutionalization
taking
frustrated
place throughout
Americansociety.The United States,whichonce had seemed
61
Bowers,
WilliamJames,"The Sentimentof Rationality,"
in James,Essaysin Philosophy,ed. Burkhardt,
ibid.,
and Skrupskelis,
32-64. WilliamJames,"Remarkson Spencer'sDefinitionof Mind as Correspondence,"
7-22.
62 William
Jamesto MaryE. Raymond,March2, 1899,MaryE. RaymondPapers(SpecialCollections,Miller
Library,
ColbyCollege,Waterville,Me.).
63 See Coon, "Courtship
the Subject";andJames,Memories
withAnarchy,"191-96; Coon, "Standardizing
and Studies,346-47.
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94
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
June1996
to be the havenof individualfreedomand anti-institutionalism,
had begun to
"puke up its ancientsoul" as it steadilyturnedtowardpoliciesof imperialism
withinworldaffairs,
professionalization
withinacademicaffairs,
and standardization withinvirtually
all facetsof society.64
All thesetendenciesrepresented,
to
James,the imperializing
propensities
of institutions,
the dominationof theweak
by thestrong,of the underdogby the bully.Theyrepresented
the oppressionof
the concreteindividualinstance-be it a concept,a belief,a developingbodyof
thought,a humanbeing,or a smallnation-by an abstractdogma.
If societywas movingtowardincreasingly
big forces,thenpragmatism
would
actas a counterforce
to thisprocess,encouraging
individualsto evaluatethetruth
forthemselvesand to take actionwhen actionwas necessary.
Jamesintended
pragmatismto be a philosophythat would fightdogmatism,absolutism,and
oppressionin thephilosophicalworld.Throughitsworkin themindsofitsreaders
and listeners,it would serveas a basisforreformand activismin the socialand
politicalworldas well.He wrotetoPaulineGoldmarkin 1904thathe was"ashamed
to sayhow muchinterested
I have becomein myown systemof philosophy(!)"
sinceJohnDewey,F. C. S. Schiller,HenriBergson,and othershad independently
developedsimilarideas.He continued,"I am persuadedthata greatnewphilosophical movementis in the air, and I prayto be sparedto playan activepartin it.
Those moments[sic] seem ridiculously
abstractin theiroriginalform,but they
filterdown intopracticallifethroughthe remotestchannels."65
As Jameshimselfwrote,pragmatism
was botha theoryof truthand a method
forweighingtruthsand values. As a theoryof truth,pragmatism's
"accountof
truthis an accountof truthsin the plural,"and not of "Truthwitha big T."
Indeed, wroteJames,"the whole notionof the truthis an abstraction
fromthe
factof truthsin the plural, a mereusefulsummarizingphraselike the Latin
Languageor the Law." Even withoutan absolutenotionof truth,people would
createtheirtruthsand ethicalguidelinesas current
conditionsrequired.Thislack
of an absolutestandardof truthdid notimplyutterlawlessness,
nordid it mean
thatan individualhad freereinto declareanything
trueor ethicalsimplybecause
itsatisfied
himorher.Jamesarguedthatthenaturalworldandthesocialcommunity
werestrongconservative
forcesthatwould quicklysquelchany"truths"thatwere
too farout of line.66
It should be clear thatJames'stheoryof truthand ethicswas deeply antiin character.
institutional
Jamesopposed abstract,universalstandardsbecause
wereimpersonal,hollow
theyheld the same dangersas big institutions-they
abstractions
thattended eitherto colonizeor to crushthe individualinstance.
Jamesadvocatedinsteadsmaller-scale,
standardsthatwould be more
contingent
responsiveto change, to historicalcircumstance,
to particularhuman interests
and needs.
WilliamJamesto HenryLee Higginson,Sept. 18, 1900,JamesPapers.
WilliamJamesto Goldmark,Feb. 24, 1904,JamesPapers.
66 See James,Pragmatism,
esp. 104-19.
64
65
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Anarchism
andtheRadicalization
ofWilliam
James
95
As a philosophicalmethod,pragmatism
would help individualsassesswhat
concretedifference
it would makein theirlivesif a particulartermwas used, a
particular
ideal was adopted,a particular
worldviewwas embraced.This,James
wrote,oughtto be the essentialtaskof anyworthwhile
philosophy:"to findout
whatdefinitedifference
it will make to you and me, at definiteinstantsof our
life,if thisworld-formula
or thatworld-formula
be the trueone."67
Of all the possibleworldviewsthatmightbe embraced-materialism
versus
spiritualism,
empiricism
versusrationalism,
monotheism
versuspolytheism-the
"mostcentralofall philosophic
problems,"according
toJames,wasthatofmonism
versuspluralism.68
The ramifications
of choosingsidesextendedintoeverycorner
of life-epistemological,
metaphysical,
social,political.Pragmatism
came out on
the side of pluralism,becauseJamesbelievedthatpluralism'sconsequencesfor
lifewereat once morehopefuland morein keepingwiththe natureof reality
thanthoseof monism.
A fundamental
is that
and radicalempiricism
premiseofJames'spragmatism
realityis constantly
changing,constantly
in the processof beingmade:
The essentialcontrast
is that
forrationalism
realityis ready-made
and complete
whileforpragmatism
it is stillin themaking,and awaitspart
fromall eternity,
of itscomplexion
fromthefuture.On the one side, the universeis absolutely
on theotherit is stillpursuing
itsadventures.69
secure,
If reality
werestatic,as rationalists
held,thenrationalist
standardsofan Absolute
Good, an AbsoluteTruth,an AbsoluteLaw, an AbsoluteOrderwouldbe appropriate.But ifreality
wereconstantly
in flux,as evolutionary
theoryindeedseemed
toconfirm,
thenabsolutestandards
wereinappropriate
becausetheywouldbecome
obsoleteas realitychanged.
since
ForJames,therefore,
pluralismbetterfitthecharacter
of a reality-in-flux,
of
it encouragednoveltyand diversity.
It was also moretolerant,morerespectful
individualliberty,
lessimperialistic
thanmonistic
theories
suchas absoluteidealism.
Jamesexplained:
The theory
of faith,
has had to be an article
of theAbsolute,in particular,
affirmed
. . . The slightest
and exclusively.
dogmatically
suspicionofpluralism,
theminutest
ofanyone ofitspartsfromthecontrol
wiggleofindependence
of the totality,would ruinit....
Pluralismon the otherhand has no need
ofthisdogmatic
Provided
rigoristic
temper.
yougrantsomeseparation
among
ofindependence,
some .
things,sometremor
.
. realnovelty
orchance,however
however
sheis amplysatisfied,
andwillallowyouanyamount,
minute,
great,
ofrealunion.70
Jamesianpluralism
held that"thereis no pointofview,no focusofinformation
isvisibleatonce."71 According
extant,fromwhichtheentirecontentoftheuniverse
67Ibid., 30.
68Ibid., 64.
69Ibid., 123.
70Ibid., 78.
71
Ibid.,72.
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History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
96
June1996
to James,thereweremanyand diversepointsof viewand typesof action,each
withsome other
(and differences)
individual'spointof viewsharingsimilarities
each
ornetworks,
individual'spointofview.Kindredviewswouldform"systems"
its neighbor'sto an extentbased on itssimilarity:
viewoverlapping
partswithin
of theworld's
littlehangings-together
The resultis innumerable
butofoperation,
notonlyofdiscourse
littleworlds,
hangings-together,
thelarger
networks
actuallyand practiwithinthewideruniverse.... [A]ll thesedefinite
partof
elementary
themall theyletno individual
callyexist. .. andbetween
escape.72
theuniverse
In directoppositionto absoluteidealistswho positedthattheremustbe an
eternalSomethingor Someonethatmade it all cohere,Jamesexplainedtheunity
of the "universe"withoutrecourseto an "Absolute";he saw insteadinterlinked
stillmakesa
bindingit all together."Our 'multiverse'
of smallsystems
networks
'universe';foreverypart,tho it maynot be in actual or immediateconnexion,
in some possibleor mediatedconnexion,witheveryotherpart
is nevertheless
withitsverynext
howeverremote,throughthefactthateachparthangstogether
73ForJames,
theapparentunityoftheworld
interfusion."
in inextricable
neighbors
an overlapping
quality- through
itspluralistic
arosefromitsdiversity,
paradoxically
of "smallsystems."
network
whichwere
James'sphilosophyhad crucialsocial and politicalramifications,
pluralismbut also in whathe calleditsquality
apparentnotonlyin pragmatism's
engaged
ForJames,philosophy
shouldnotbe justa sterileexercise
of"meliorism."
in byacademicsforeach other'sexclusivebenefit.It shouldgrowout of existing
of betterones. As he underlined
socialand politicalconditionsand be productive
to Philosophy,philosophy
in a favoritebook, FriedrichPaulsen'sIntroduction
arisesout of "the revoltagainsta miserablepresent";an act of will "determines
the directionit will takeand arousesits passions.74
In a monisticworldview,realitywas whole,entire-and static.Good and evil
had alwaysexistedand would alwaysexist.Hence, thisworldviewled eitherto
ifone dwelledon thepresenceof evil,or to a blindoptimism,ifone
pessimism,
as partof the
triedto explainawaythe evilby sayingeitherthatit was necessary
not
as
bad
as
appeared.A
they
perfectwholeor that,on the whole,evilswere
in The
pluralisticworldview, on the otherhand, as Jameshad demonstrated
Varieties
ofReligiousExperience,allowedthatevilsmightexistand mightalways
partof reality.As
theywerenot, however,a necessary
have existedpreviously;
in
faith
betterpossibilities
he had workedout in his notebookon "Possibility,"
and protestof currentbad conditionswerethe firststepstowardbringingabout
an imaginedbetterworld.He wrotein Pragmatism:"Meliorismtreatssalvation
whichbecomes
as neitherinevitablenorimpossible.It treatsit as a possibility,
72 Ibid.,
67.
A PluralisticUniverse,146; a similarviewis expressedon 115.
73James,
74 Friedrich
to Philosophy,trans.FrankThilly(Boston, 1895), 317. Passagemarked
Paulsen,Introduction
in James'scopy,HoughtonLibrary.
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James
ofWilliam
andtheRadicalization
Anarchism
97
more and more of a probabilitythe more numerousthe actual conditionsof
ForJames,pluralismwascrucialforallowingtheproliferation
salvationbecome."75
that
solutions.The moretypesof "possibilities"
of a varietyof protests,reforms,
wereallowedto exist-the moreseedsof futurerealitiesthatwereplanted-the
betterthe chancethatsome would flourish.
Jamesurged,was thatit allowedhope and trust
The advantageof meliorism,
in betterpossibilities
whileavoidingthedangerofsinkingintopassiveacceptance
partoftheworld:"absolutismadmitsquietismorindifferentofevilas a necessary
plunged one into "the
pragmatism
ism, whichpluralismdoes not." Melioristic
pluralisticuncompletedflux,sayingtherewill be an atonementforthis [bad]
moment."It did notguaranteetheatoningfactsbutallowedthemas possibilities,
activityratherthan indifference.76
therebyencouraging
-not full-scalerevolution,
Thus, Jameseanpragmatismencouragedactivism
whichwould be the ultimatedogmaticact, but reformand smallrevoltsagainst
to have faith
injustices.It encouragedpeople to thinkforthemselves,
particular
in theirown beliefsand truths,and to fightactivelyratherthanacceptpassively
and elsewhere
the evilsthattheysaw aroundthem.Jameswrotein Pragmatism
wasthattheyencouraged
ethicaltheories
thattheproblemwithmanycontemporary
quietism.Theyaskedindividualssimplyto accepttheirfate,to acquiesce.In the
Swift'sHuman
Jamesquoteda longpassagefromMorrison
essayson pragmatism,
Submission.The passage condemnedmodernethicaland religioustheoriesas
of
to the perfection
negligentby declaringevil necessary
beingalmostcriminally
real evils
the eternalorder,whenall about themthe workingclassesconfronted
and suicide.
and weredoomed to despair,starvation,
that"ethicsis an archaicexercise
Jamesquoted Swift'sbitterpronouncement
hundredsof yearsin arrears,thatits messageto the
of modernschool-masters
stressedthislast message:
presentand to the futureis dead." Jamesparticularly
the
needs
of modernsociety.In
crying
ethicswas dead if it did not respondto
sectionsof Human SubmissionthatJamesdid not quote, Swiftproposedthe
radicalethicalsolutionthatthe oppressedwereoutsidethe law and need feelno
If
constructed
by theiroppressors.
about disobeyingethicalsystems
compunction
their
then
should
take
from
simply
them
they
bread,
earning
societyprevented
held that "the abolitionof the rich is the
it. Swift,the social revolutionist,
of Swift'sbitter
nextlaw of the universeto be executed."Given the intensity
of capitalism,the radicalismof his proposedsolutions,and the
condemnations
and elitecontemporaries,
factthathisviewswerewellknownto bothworking-class
thatJamescited him favorably,concurring
it seems all the more noteworthy
withSwift's"revoltagainstthe airyand shallowoptimismof currentreligious
onlythat"Mr. Swift'sanarchismgoes a littlefarther
philosophy,"and qualifying
thanmine does"!77
James,Pragmatism,137.
Thought
toElizabethG. Evans,Dec. 11, 1906,James
Papers.Theletteras publishedin Perry,
WilliamJames
ftomthe originaland does not containthesequotations.
and Characterof WilliamJames,II, 473-74, differs
20-21.
I. Swift,Human Submission(Philadelphia,1905), 13. Ibid., 78. James,Pragmatism,
77 Morrison
75
76
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TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
98
June1996
neverpreachedsocialrevolution,
Jamescouldnotgo as faras Swift.He certainly
When he had confessedhis
and he was not even muchof an activereformer.78
friendPauline Goldmark,he had admitted
growinganarchismto his reformer
his inabilityto applyit to the world.To Lutoslawski,
Jameswrotethathe envied
but felthimselfto
thosewho could "livein unconventional
spheresof activity"
harness"in academics.He
be somehowconstrained,
strappedinto "conventional
complainedto friendsthathe was thoughta crankby manyof his friendsand
colleaguesfor his supportof too many unorthodoxcauses, includingantiwas attackedby
subdued form,pragmatism
imperialism.Even in its relatively
tendenciesor, as one theologian
severalcontemporary
scholarsforits anarchistic
and unity,"itsoppositionto
put it, forits "revoltagainstall tradition,authority
"all regulativenormsand law."79
of convention
WithinJames'schosenrole, however,withinthoseconstraints
he offered
a pluralistic
andanti-institutional
philosoandprofessorial
respectability,
left behind the gentilityof the old worldand asked
phy that self-consciously
people to grapplewiththe tremendousethicaland socialproblemsof the new.
as too "noble,"too genteelto address
Jamessawabsoluteidealismand rationalism
current
problems:"In thisrealworldofsweatand dirt,it seemsto me thatwhen
a viewofthingsis 'noble,'thatoughtto countas a presumption
againstitstruth,
and as a philosophicdisqualification."80
insteadcalledforpeople to
Pragmatism
rollup theirsleevesand workto bringabout a betterreality:
author
creation,
saying:"I
putthecaseto youbefore
Supposethattheworld's
of
to be saved,a worldtheperfection
am goingto makea worldnotcertain
thecondition
whichshallbe conditional
beingthateachseveral
agent
merely,
doesitsown'levelbest."'I offer
partinsucha world.
youthechanceoftaking
withrealdanger,
It is a realadventure,
yet
Itssafety,
yousee,is unwarranted.
to be
workgenuinely
it maywinthrough.
It is a socialschemeofco-operative
andtrust
theother
done.Willyoujointheprocession?
Willyoutrust
yourself
agentsenoughto facetherisk?81
Pragmaticpluralismviewedthe universenot as a singlevastsystem,but as a
to some
ofsmallersystems,
witheverylivingindividualcontributing
greatnetwork
"in
system(s).Realityand truthwerenot givenonce forall, but wereconstantly
78 The skeptical
It appearsthathe decided(through
himselfan activist?"
readermightask,"Whywasn'tJames
ofhis day)thatdifferent
theories
and psychological
perhaps,butalso fullyrootedin physiological
rationalization,
Jamessaw himselfas fallinginto a
spheresof activity.
equipped fordifferent
people wereconstitutionally
tooktheformoflecturing,
life,so his activism
delicategroupthatwasbestsuitedforintellectual
constitutionally
Dec. 1, 1900,
othersin theirown formsof activism.WilliamJamesto Lutoslawski,
writing,and encouraging
May 13, 1900, WincentyLutoslawskiPapers (BeineckeRare Book and ManuscriptLibrary,Yale University,
New Haven, Conn.). See also Kloppenberg,UncertainVictory,161-62, for a similarargumentconcerning
James'sactivism.
19WilliamJamesto Goldmark,
May 31, 1899,
Jan. 30, 1903,JamesPapers.WilliamJamesto Lutoslawski,
Jan. 1, 1904, in Perry,Thoughtand Characterof William
Papers.WilliamJamesto Lutoslawski,
Lutoslawski
ConsidCritically
James,II, 216. Arnoldvan CouthenPiccardtHuizinga,TheAmericanPhilosophyPragmatism
Theology(Boston,1911), 3. Otherexamplescan be foundin Coon, "Courtship
eredin Relationto Present-day
withAnarchy."
40.
80James,Pragmatism,
81Ibid.,
139.
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Anarchism
andtheRadicalization
ofWilliam
James
99
themaking,"and individualswerecreators
of new realities.Our rolesas creators
new
of
realities"add both to our dignityand to our responsibility
as thinkers,"
Jameswrote.It meantthatall individualshad the chanceto makean impacton
theworldbyworking
as the"livechampionsand pledges"of betterpossibilities.82
ForJames,nothingless than the world'ssalvationwas at stake;pragmatism
insistedthatsalvationwas possible,thoughnot guaranteed,and thatindividuals
had to workto bringit about: "Take, forexample,any one of us in thisroom
withtheidealswhichhe cherishes,
and is willingto liveand workfor.Everysuch
ideal realizedwill be one momentin the world'ssalvation."83
What formthat
salvationwouldtakewasnotgivenin advance.Anyone'ssolutionjustmightprove
the mostviable one in the long run. The crucialthingwas to try.
It wasJames'shope thatpragmatism
would help to rekindlethe historically
Americanidealsofpluralismand tolerance.Theseidealshad losttheir
contingent
"passionateinnermeaning"forthe Americanpeople as imperializing
forcesheld
swayin the 1890s,and theyhad to be givennewmeaningif theywereto become
living,personalideals again. It wasJames'sfurther
hope thatpragmatism
would
restore
people'sfaithin individualself-determination,
in theefficacy
of spontaneous, individualactsof will.People mightthenmorereadilyundertakesocialand
politicalaction,trustingthatimmediatefailuremighteventually"pass into its
wasno longerguaranteedbya Creator,
opposite."In a secularage, themillennium
but it mightbe attainedifenoughpeople believedthatit could be attainedand
and spontaneously
workedhard to bringit about.
voluntarily
Jameswrotein Pragmatism
thatsurely"the scale of the evil actuallyin sight
defiesall human tolerance."The cryingneeds of real individualsin the faceof
forceshad to be met. The hope of
imperializing,
militarizing,
industrializing
presentand futuregenerations,forJames,lay in pluralism,personalism,and
evilsand in the
''anarchyin the good sense." It lay in the abolitionof particular
of betterpossibilities
championing
that,as "slowleavensof a betterorder,"might
help to bringabout a "socialisticequilibrium,"the earthlymillennium.Forged
in the fireof his radicalization
of the 1890s,muchof the corpusofJames'swork
in his last decade was designedto convincepeople thatthe need was imperative
and the goal was possible.84
82 Ibid.,123,137.
831bid., 137.
70. James,"Notes forMetaphysicalSeminary,"383. James, Varietiesof Religious
84James, Pragmatism,
Experience,287. James,Memoriesand Studies,286.
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