Charles Williams Books

Charles Peirce (1839-1914), William James (1842 --1910), and Josiah Royce (1855 -- 1916)were American philosophers whose lives and thoughts overlapped and who have become representative of the "classical age" of American philosophy. James and Royce were close friends and colleagues at Harvard for many years. Peirce never received a permanent academic appointment, but he wrote extensively and also was close personally to both James and Royce. The three philosophers are loosely described as pragmatists, which means that each of them believed that the meaning of an idea was based upon its consequences in human activity. Thus each thinker stressed the purposeful, forward-looking character of thought. Josiah Royce shared these pragmatic tendencies with Peirce and James even though his philosophy tended more in the direction of idealism. James and Peirce also differed in many respects, with Peirce being more of a system-builder. In some respects, Peirce and Royce are closer philosophically to each other than either is to James.

Richard P. Mullin's recent book "The Soul of Classical American Philosophy: The Ethical and Spiritual Insights of William James, Josiah Royce, and Charles Sanders Peirce" (2007)is an excellent introduction to the work of these thinkers and to the value of studying them. Mullin taught for many years at Wheeling Jesuit University, West Virginia, where he is now Professor Emeritus. It is inspiring that this is his first book. Mullin describes (at ix) his book as dealing with issues "that would be treated under the name of soul in traditional philosophy. These issues include: the search for truth; the meaning of whatever we call our 'self', especially in relation to our bodily existence; free will; moral values; community; and our relationship to the Transcendent." Mullin points out that the work of James, Royce, and Peirce arose in the context of the acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution and the related decline in religious belief. Their thought also arose in an expanding, industrializing, and increasingly capitalistic United States which, in the view of many people, threatened communal and other values not rooted in economics. Mullin's discussion of these three philosophers focues on their ethical insights, their views of the human person and human community, and their efforts to reconcile science with religion. These basic philosophical issues are still of great importance to many people. A fourth philosopher frequently associated with the classical age of American philosophy, John Dewey, is not included in Mullin's study. For Mullin, Dewey differed fundamentally from his three fellow-pragmatists in his naturalism and in his effort to avoid the transcendent spiritual issues that preoccupied James, Royce, and Peirce. Dewey has been the most influential of the American pragmatists, but his thought has been amply explored in many other sources.

Mullin's book consists of three extended parts dealing, respectively, with the thought of James, Royce, and Peirce. He begins each section with a summary of the basic metaphysical position of each thinker and proceeds to a discussion of their views on ethics, human personhood, community, and religion. In some instances, Mullin pauses briefly to examine criticisms that could be advanced against a particular position and tries to answer it. Mullin also briefly compares and contrasts the thought of the three philosophers trying to outline where they agree and where they disagree. In the introduction to his book Mullin states that he considers William James "his principal teacher of philosophy", and James receives the longest section in the book. But my impression is that Mullin has been greatly influenced by Royce's and Peirce's criticisms of James and by the manner in which their thought diverged from his.

William James is the most accessible of the philosophers Mullin discusses. The works on which Mullin focuses, including the "Will to Believe", the "Varieties of Religious Experience", "Pragmatism" and "A Pluralistic Universe" are all readily available in the two-volume set published by the Library of America. Mullin focuses upon James's pluralism and on James's commitment to free will and to purposeful human activity. He offers an excellent discussion (p. 56) of the term "spirituality" which is much used today and applies it to James's thought. There is a great deal of discussion of James and the possibility of religious faith. Mullin shows some recognition in his discussion of the difficulties and possible inconsistencies in James's thought as he struggled to reconcile religion, free will and human effort with his own deep knowledge of empirical psychology.

James' idealist colleague, Josiah Royce, also wrote prolifically, but his works have been for the most part bypassed by contemporary philosophers. Mullin does good service by bringing Royce's voice back into the discussion. Royce's views changed over time, and Mullin describes Royce's comprehensive idealistic work "The World and the Individual" followed by consideration of his latter "Philosophy of Loyalty", and "Sources of Religious Insight." These books remain available and accessible to the interested reader. Mullin stresses Royce's interest in the development of the human personality and the communal character of his thought, as exemplified in the latter two books referred to above. He offers an excellent discussion of Royce's "Sources", a work too little known, which expands upon and modifies William James's great work, the "Varieties of Religious Experience." The Sources is a corrective of the Varieties in that it emphasizes the communal nature of religion and the importance of reason.

Many people regard Charles Peirce as the greatest of American philosopers. Mullin's discussion shows the intruiging,grand character of Peirce's thought as well as the difficulty of approaching it. Peirce's work is difficult and obscure. It is scattered in many essays which, for many years, have been edited and studied. Mullin's discussion is based upon several of Peirce's better-known essays together with passages in his Papers which may not be accessible to all readers. Because of the nature of Peirce's work, Mullin relies more than he did with James and Royce on other secondary sources. Mullin describes Royce as a systematic thinker who attempted to construct an "architectonic" of philosophy, as did Kant, on which an aesthetic of human reasonableness led to an ethics of human good and then to a logic of human knowledge. Peirce was trained in mathematics and the physical sciences and the goal of disinterested human inquiry and ultimate agreement by disinterested observers plays a large role in his thought. Peirce also had a tendency to develop a strange vocablulary using terms such as "uberty" which he defined as the need of philosophy to consider "the full-breasted richness of life.(p. 96-97) The similarity in thought between Royce and Peirce comes out in Mullin's discussion of the two thinkers.

Mullin's book is an excellent way to begin a detailed study of one of the three thinkers he discusses or, even more difficult, to try to study the three philosophers together. The United States has produced rewarding work in philosophy as in other areas of high human endeavor. In the course of his study, Mullin quotes William James at several points in describing people's continued need for the "far-flashing beams of light" that philosophical thought remains capable of sending over the world's perspectives. Mullin has written an inspiring introduction to the work of three seminal American thinkers.

Robin Friedman

This book is a great book.I think that it is really wierd that it is a true story. When it happened in the same state that I live in it really makes me think of how scary life really is.

Back in the '80s, when I had to write a college term paper about the history of musical notation, one had to search high and low to find a book that devoted to this question the attention it deserves. True, Willi Apel's "Notation of Polyphonic Music" has been around for eons, but it doesn't come close to Williams's effort. Williams has striven to produce a thoughtful, balanced survey that reaches back to the Egyptian, Babylonian, and ancient Greek roots of the "Western" musical tradition and has traced its notational aspects through the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, up to the near-present (n.b., the book was published in 1903). The work brims with useful illustrations, though, frankly, I could use without the miscellaneous photos of this church or that abbey. Naturally, recent notational developments are not covered. Fortunately for you, dear reader, I wrote a follow-up paper on 20th century developments in musical notation, and a work by Karkoschka was my "bible" just as Williams was for its predecessor. Fair warning: Williams's opus is not for the musically inept; he demands you have a strong understanding of intervals, rests, chordal structures and relationships, and such other basic musicological constructs.

Just to get this out of the way-- I don't agree with the conclusions drawn by the author as to who killed Charlie Bravo, but that's half the fun of reading about a classic Victorian domestic homicide. It's distant enough in time to be an enjoyable intellectual exercise, but not so far that letters and papers are not preserved. Between the two inquests there is quite a lot-- much of it contradictory-- known about the household at the Priory.

Charlie Bravo was the second husband of Florence Campbell. Her first husband, Alexander Ricardo, had died of drink, but not before settling forty thousand pounds on her. After Alexander's death she had sought consolation with an old family friend. After severing that connection, she was courted by Charlie Bravo, a young barrister with wealthy connections who was either a jealous, pinch-penny or a cheerful, considerate young man depending on who was telling the story. While it is true his step father was a wealthy creole merchant, Charlie also had a disagreement with Florrie about her financial settlement before they were even married.

The story of Charlie Bravo's death and the investigation following it make for enteretaining reading, and maybe a hour or two of speculation later with like minded friends.

Just when I think I've seen every modern-day compilation of Thoreau quotations, I turn down an aisle at a used bookstore and gasp in pleasant surprise. Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1850 about "a sweet wild world which lives along the strain of the wood thrush," and here William White reveals glimpses of that realm through selected journal entries arranged by season. White rightly asserts that the transcendentalist's formal poems are clumsy concoctions and are less than memorable, but his prose -- especially portions of his journal -- contains a poetic quality worthy of transcribing into free verse form. Hence, this volume. Individual excerpts appear on separate pages and are enhanced with 16 seasonal pen-and-ink illustrations by Georgia Dearborn. A tasteful gift idea for nature lovers, and certainly less expensive than one of the innumerable coffee table books with full-color photos accompanied by random quotes.

This is a clear and concise book that is well organized. It is appropriate for undergraduate students and practicing hospice nurses. A good resource.

This book is a very personal biography of Henry David Thoreau, written by one of his closest friends. Although the book contains many biographical details of Thoreau, it is more a eulogy than a biography. It begins with a chapter on Thoreau's early life, but after this chapter, Channing's commentary is collated more by topic than by chronological order. These topics include: manners, reading, nature, literary themes, philosophy, writings, field sports, characters, and moral. Following the main text are a selection of memorial verses written by Channing.

Channing, author, intimate friend and frequent walking companion of Thoreau, first drafted this work in 1863, shortly after Thoreau's passing. Because he and Thoreau had been friends from young adulthood, Channing was able to provide many anecdotes and details of Thoreau's life. As a result, all subsequent biographers have relied on Channing's text as a source of firsthand information. Channing was also the first person other than Thoreau himself to delve into Thoreau's massive Journal, and he draws heavily on Thoreau's Journal in this volume. When the draft of this biography was sent to a publisher, however, the publisher declared it too short. Channing's response was to insert several chapters of an unpublished work from the 1850s, in which Channing had arranged journal entries from himself, Emerson, and Thoreau into a group of pseudo-conversations. These insertions, while somewhat interesting, reduce the cohesion of the overall text of the volume even more. Nevertheless, the book is quite interesting for the intimate perspective Channing was able to provide of Thoreau, and for the journal entries that he selected to demonstrate Thoreau's characteristic themes.

This collection of "war stories" from seasoned Consular officers makes for interesting and entertaining reading. As far as I am aware, this is the only really thorough exploration of the consular function in the U.S. Foreign Service (William Shepard's "Consular Tales" is thin by comparison.)

I would particularly recommend this title as preparatory reading for any prospective consular officers about to take the State Department's Foreign Service Oral Exam, or for anyone considering a consular career in the Foreign Service.

The book is expensive, but could be considered a worthwhile investment for one's career.

It is a shame that this is out of stock. I recently read this book and it helped me understand the basic tenets of Marxism more clearly. It does this in an interesting way: a dialogue between three people with varying positions on Marxism and history. Very good introduction to Marxism.

This book stands as a valuable resource for studies on Shakespeare as well as Eliot, Swinburne, Browning and Dickens. Sawyer's examples of how these authors borrowed from and used Shakespeare provides a new versatility of Shakespeare's works that has largely gone unnoticed. Many strong assertions are made and each one is supported by a firm foundation of research and knowledge. It is necessary, however, to have an understanding of each of these authors. Without this familiarity, the book tends to be a difficult read.