The influence of Jules Lequyer [or Lequier] in philosophy, especially American philosophy, is disproportionate to the widespread ignorance of his name and to the fragmentary state of his literary remains. On the subject of free will, Lequyer’s influence on William James was profound, although James did not acknowledge his debt to the Frenchman, nor has it been recognized by most James scholars. It is true that James considered Lequyer “a French philosopher of genius,”1 but inexplicably, he never mentioned Lequyer by (...) name in his published work. Lack of knowledge of Lequyer among Anglophones is perhaps not surprising since, in addition to James’s curious silence, it took more than a hundred.. (shrink)

ABSTRACT A growing body of research suggests that political polarization in the United States is at a forty-year high, and that it is rooted less in disagreements over policy than in hostile attitudes toward political opponents. Such attitudes explain the manifest increase of intolerant behavior in American culture and politics in recent years. But what explains the attitudes themselves? One significant contributor may have been the rise of scientism in the early twentieth century, which undermined the metaphysical, epistemic, and institutional (...) foundations of the type of morality required to transcend our instinctual tribalism. (shrink)

Hacia la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, una fuerte actitud positivista dio forma a un mundo determinado. El método científico parecía exigir la continuidad del sistema causal en todas las dimensiones de los fenómenos, lo cual entró en tensión con todo lo relativo a la estructura motivacional y volitiva del sujeto. William James interviene en el debate, tiene en cuenta diversas aristas del problema y pone en juego su lectura de los psicólogos ingleses (Mill, Bain y Spencer) y de Renouvier. (...) Daremos cuenta de las consecuencias vitales que tiene el problema del determinismo para el estadounidense, en qué sentido los psicólogos ingleses son deterministas, como se les opone Renouvier y el modo en que James se apropia estratégicamente de los argumentos del francés haciéndolos operar a distintos niveles en su reflexión psicológica y filosófica. (shrink)

This article investigates the history of the relation between idealism and pragmatism by examining the importance of the French idealist Charles Renouvier for the development of William James's ‘Will to Believe’. By focusing on French idealism, we obtain a broader understanding of the kinds of idealism on offer in the nineteenth century. First, I show that Renouvier's unique methodological idealism led to distinctively pragmatist doctrines and that his theory of certitude and its connection to freedom is worthy of reconsideration. Second, (...) I argue that the technical vocabulary and main structure of the argument from the ‘Will to Believe’ depend upon Renouvier's idealist theory of knowledge and psychology of belief, and that taking account of this line of influence is of crucial importance for establishing the correct interpretation of James's work. (shrink)