William James Linton

James, William

James, William (1842–1910), American philosopher, elder brother of Henry James. His views are embodied in his Principles of Psychology (1890), and show a tendency to subordinate logical proof to intuitive conviction. He was a vigorous antagonist of the idealist school of Kant and Hegel, and an empiricist who made empiricism more radical by treating pure experience as the very substance of the world. Pragmatism, for which he is best remembered by philosophers, was his method of approach to metaphysics. James's other principal works were Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), Pragmatism (1907), The Meaning of Truth (1909), a Pluralistic Universe (1909), Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912). The conclusions of his Varieties of Religious Experience are notable: ‘the visible world is part of a more spiritual universe from which it draws its chief significance…spiritual energy flows in and produces effects within the phenomenal world.’ He coined the phrase ‘stream of consciousness’ now widely used as a literary term.

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "James, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "James, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-JamesWilliam.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "James, William." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-JamesWilliam.html

Learn more about citation styles

William James Linton

William James Linton 1812–97, Anglo-American wood engraver, author, and political reformer. In 1842 he began working as a wood engraver with John Orrin Smith and produced illustrations for the newly formed London Illustrated News. An ardent radical, he helped found the Leader, expounded the principles of Mazzini in the Red Republican, and started (1851) the English Republic. Later, he returned to wood engraving and in 1867 moved to the United States and set up a printing press in New Haven, Conn.; he continued the tradition of Thomas Bewick, advocating the use of the white as well as the black line. The best wood engraver of his day in England, he contributed more than any other to the regeneration of the art in America. His publications include The Life of Thomas Paine (1839), Some Practical Hints on Wood-Engraving (1879), The History of Wood-Engraving in America (1882), and Memories (1895).

Bibliography: See biography by F. B. Smith (1973).

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"William James Linton." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"William James Linton." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Linton-W.html

"William James Linton." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Linton-W.html

Learn more about citation styles

James, William

James, William (1842–1910) An American philosopher of the pragmatist school, notable mainly for his unusual accomplishment in significantly influencing the development both of neo-positivism and symbolic interactionism, via his view that the empirical consequences of an idea constitute its meaning. See also PRAGMATISM (PHILOSOPHY OF).

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

GORDON MARSHALL. "James, William." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

GORDON MARSHALL. "James, William." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-JamesWilliam.html

GORDON MARSHALL. "James, William." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-JamesWilliam.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

William Bell Scott and Thomas Sibson's Saxon Arts: a source for Iron and...
Magazine article from: British Art Journal; 12/23/2010
University Results 2004: COVENTRY UNIVERSITY.(News)
Newspaper article from: Coventry Evening Telegraph (England); 11/16/2004
Members celebrate milestone anniversaries.(List)
Magazine article from: Corrections Today; 12/1/2010

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

See more pictures of Linton, William James