A World of Pure Experience

The concept of "pure experience" remains one of the most intriguing and simultaneously mystifying aspects of William James's writings. There seems to be little agreement in the secondary literature as to how to understand this concept, and precisely what function it serves within the overall structure of James's thought. Yet James himself regards this idea as the pillar of his radical empiricism. To which, James felt, was his unique contribution to the history of philosophy; he believed that philosophy "was on the eve of a considerable rearrangement" when this revolutionary essay "A World of Pure Experience" was first published in 1904. Table of Contents A World of Pure Experience I. Radical Empiricism II. Conjunctive Relations III. The Cognitive Relation IV. Substitution V. What Objective Reference Is VI. The Conterminousness of Different Minds VII. Conclusion Footnotes