The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature Being the Oxford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at Edinburgh

James, William

Published by Longmans, Green, and Co., 39 Paternoster Row, London, New York, Bombay, 1902

About this Item

1902 date at title page and copyright. First printing point of issue present: Nietzsche mispelled "Nietsche" at page 38. Also, without adverts at back. Rare. Dark bluish green full-cloth boards, tan spine label w/titles, moderate shelf wear, bow. Deckled pages very good. Matte black endpapers. Vintage note penned at blank endpaper. Gilt top edge. Bind good; hinges intact. Attractive near very good example. William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philospher. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, education, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and the philosophy of pragmatism. Pragmatically interpreted, pluralism or the doctrine that is many, means only that the surrounding components of reality may be externally related. Everything you can think of, however vast or inclusive, has only the pluralistic view. Going against the grain of entrenched philosophy, James argues that the world is not a uni-verse but a multi-verse. He honors the human experience of many-ness and and various kinds of unity in a world of flux and sensation. This is the popular masterwork by James that is well known in the AA community as the book that Ebby T. brought to Bill W. in Towns Hospital in 1934. Bill had his spiritual experience in the hospital while reading this book. It is also mentioned in the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book. This is James' major work on religion, and also one of his most popular books containing the Gifford Lectures that he delivered in Edinburgh in 1901-1902. Originally designed as the psychological part of a larger treatise on religion; and, is an important study in both its psychology and philosophy. A critical source for the nature and further development of James's philosophy. James was primarily interested in direct religious experiences, considering theology and the organizational aspects of religion as completely secondary. For him, religious experiences were simply human experiences: "Religious happiness is happiness." He was only interested in the "experience", not the dogma or institutional constriction. While he did believe that religious experiences can have "morbid origins" in brain pathology and even be irrational, he still believed they were largely positive. Using his pragmatic method, the effectiveness of religious experences proves their truth, whatever their source. Soon after its publication, "Varieties" entered the Western canon and has remained in print for over a century. Includes a detailed six-page index. Produced by The Riverside Press, Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co., Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. 534 pages Insured post. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.

Seller Inventory # 021107

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature Being the Oxford Lectures on Natural Religion Delivered at Edinburgh
• Publisher: Longmans, Green, and Co., 39 Paternoster Row, London, New York, Bombay
• Publication Date: 1902
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good