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First edition, first printing, of James's final book, published posthumously from an unfinished manuscript left at his death; with the bookplate of James's friend, the civil rights leader and founding president of the NAACP, Moorfield Storey (1845-1929). James had intended for some years to round out his philosophical work with a treatise on metaphysics. "Characteristically, he chose to do so in the form of an introduction to the problems of philosophy, because writing for beginners would force him to be nontechnical and readable. The result is that, although this is James's most systematic and abstract work, it has all the lucidity of his other, more popular writings. Step by step the reader is introduced, through analysis of the fundamental problems of Being, the relation of thoughts to things, novelty, causation, and the Infinite, to the original philosophical synthesis that James called radical empiricism" (Burckhardt). Storey campaigned on a variety of issues including anti-imperialism, free trade, and the gold standard. He is best remembered for his campaigns for civil rights for African Americans, and also for Native Americans and immigrants. He founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and led the organization from its founding in 1909 until his death in 1929. James and Storey were both prominent in the anti-imperialist movement initiated by the Spanish-American War in 1898, and were both members of an intellectual dining club. Some of their correspondence is preserved in the Houghton Library. On retirement, James wrote to Storey, encouraging him to retire also, so they could "write out all the truths which a long life of intimacy with mankind has recommended to each of us as most useful. I think we can use the ebb tide of our energies best in that way. I'm sure that your contributions would be the most useful of all" (21 February 1907, in Letters of William James, II, 1920, p. 266). McDermott 1911:1. See Frederick Burkhardt (ed.), Some Problems of Philosophy, vol. 7 of William James: The Works, 1979. Octavo. Original green cloth, paper label to spine printed and ruled in black, top edge gilt. Light wear and rubbing at extremities, label a little darkened and rubbed, contents clean, some leaves unopened; a very good copy.
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