Introduction

Abstract

A possibility which William James would certainly not have envisaged is a phenomenological reading of his philosophy. Given James’s personality, one can easily imagine the explosive commentary he would make on any attempt to situate his deliberately unsystematic writings within any one philosophical mainstream. Yet, in recent years, the most fruitful scholarship on William James has resulted from a confrontation between his philosophy and the phenomenology of Husserl. The very unlikelihood of such a comparison renders all the more fascinating the remarkable convergence of perspectives that comes to light when the fundamental projects of James and Husserl are juxtaposed.

“…a universe unfinished, with doors and windows open to possibilities uncontrollable in advance.”¹