Please wait a minute...
Frontiers of Philosophy in China

ISSN 1673-3436

ISSN 1673-355X(Online)

CN 11-5743/B

Postal Subscription Code 80-983

Front. Philos. China    2014, Vol. 9 Issue (1) : 130-148    https://doi.org/10.3868/s030-003-014-0008-5
research-article
Conjunctions and/or Disjunctions: Radical Empiricism in the History of Philosophy
Nicholas S. Brasovan()
Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of Central Arkansas, AR 72035, USA
 Download: PDF(296 KB)  
 Export: BibTeX | EndNote | Reference Manager | ProCite | RefWorks
Abstract

William James challenged the traditions of British Empiricism (Hume) on one hand and German Idealism (Kant and Hegel) on the other. James’ “Radical Empiricism” is a via media (“middle road”) between these divergent positions. His central points of contention are the ontological status of relationships and the correct analysis of experience. British Empiricism leaves us with a world of separate, particular facts, based on atomic sense impressions. Idealists, on the other hand, claim that all worldly phenomena are conjoined by one rational principle. According to James’ account, neither side recognizes that both conjunctive and disjunctive relations are integral to experience. Furthermore, James’ critique proved to influence A. N. Whitehead’s philosophy of experience and orientation toward Hume and Kant. This essay situates James’ philosophy in this polemical and historical context.

Keywords William James      Radical Empiricism      American philosophy      Kant      Whitehead      Hume      Hegel     
Issue Date: 16 May 2014
 Cite this article:   
Nicholas S. Brasovan. Conjunctions and/or Disjunctions: Radical Empiricism in the History of Philosophy[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2014, 9(1): 130-148.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/10.3868/s030-003-014-0008-5
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/Y2014/V9/I1/130
[1] John Robert Williams. A Couple Nagging Interpretive Difficulties in Zhuangzi Studies vis-à-vis William James on the Ethics and Psychology of Belief[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2019, 14(4): 593-611.
[2] JIANG Niling, ZHOU Jing. Ontological Epistemology: William James and the Chinese Traditional Philosophy of Experience[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2019, 14(2): 342-356.
[3] Tung Tin Wong. He Lin and German Philosophy in the Zhanguoce School: An Idealist Philosopher on History and Cultural Reform[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 616-633.
[4] Gregory S. Moss. Annihilating the Nothing: Hegel and Nishitani on The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism [J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 585-615.
[5] Jean-Yves Heurtebise. Kant’s, Hegel’s and Cousin’s Perceptions of China and Non-European Cultures: Racialism, Historicism and Universalism, and the Methodology of Comparative Philosophy[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 554-573.
[6] Emilia Angelova. Hegel after Nancy: Sensibility, Singularity, and the Problem of the x[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 535-553.
[7] Nahum Brown. Why Is Being Nothing? An Apophatic Reading of Hegel’s Opening to the Science of Logic [J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 518-534.
[8] Hans-Georg Moeller. Necessity and Memory in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: A Reconstruction[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 505-517.
[9] Mario Wenning. Tragic Recognition: Revisiting Hegel’s Conception of Ethical Life[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 483-504.
[10] Emilio Mazza. The Humean Way to China: Beyond the Stereotype[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(2): 265-285.
[11] Jana S. Rošker. From Humanized Nature to Naturalized Humans―Li Zehou’s Transformation of the Classical Chinese “Tianren Heyi ” Paradigm Through the Lens of Kant and Early Marx[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(1): 72-90.
[12] SUN Ning. Natural Realism or Transactionalism: On the Relationships between Putnam and Two Pragmatists, James and Dewey[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2017, 12(2): 295-305.
[13] Alan Fox. A Process Interpretation of Daoist Thought[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2017, 12(1): 26-37.
[14] Roger T. Ames. “Bodyheartminding” (Xin 心): Reconceiving the Inner Self and the Outer World in the Language of Holographic Focus and Field[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2015, 10(2): 167-180.
[15] James Swindal. Marx on Nature[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2014, 9(3): 358-369.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed