ngmans, Green, and Co
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1912

Copyright, 1912, by Henry James Jr.
All Rights Reserved

EDITOR'S PREFACE

The present volume is an attempt to carry out a plan which William James
is known to have formed several years before his death. In 1907 he
collected reprints in an envelope which he inscribed with the title
'Essays in Radical Empiricism'; and he also had duplicate sets of these
reprints bound, under the same title, and deposited for the use of
students in the general Harvard Library, and in the Philosophical
Library in Emerson Hall.

Two years later Professor James published _The Meaning of Truth_ and _A
Pluralistic Universe_, and inserted in these volumes several of the
articles which he had intended to use in the 'Essays in Radical
Empiricism.' Whether he would nevertheless have carried out his original
plan, had he lived, cannot be certainly known. Several facts, however,
stand out very clearly. In the first place, the articles included in the
original plan but omitted from his later volumes are indispensable to
the understanding of his other writings. To these articles he repeatedly
alludes. Thus, in _The Meaning of Truth_ (p. 127), he says: "This
statement is probably excessively obscure to any one who has not read my
two articles 'Does Consciousness Exist?' and 'A World of Pure
Experience.'" Other allusions have been indicated in the present text.
In the second place, the articles originally brought together as 'Essays
in Radical Empiricism' form a connected whole. Not only were most of
them written consecutively within a period of two years, but they
contain numerous cross-references. In the third place, Professor James
regarded 'radical empiricism' as an _independent_ doctrine. This he
asserted expressly: "Let me say that there is no logical connexion
between pragmatism, as I understand it, and a doctrine which I have
recently set forth as 'radical empiricism.' The latter stands on its own
feet. One may entirely reject it and still be a pragmatist."
(_Pragmatism_, 1907, Preface, p. ix.) Finally, Professor James came
toward the end of his life to regard 'radical empiricism' as more
fundamental and more important than 'pragmatism.' In the Preface to _The
Meaning of Truth_ (1909), the author gives the following explanation of
his desire to continue, and if possible conclude, the controversy over
pragmatism: "I am interested in anothe