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The closing section of James's 'Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results' contains a surprisingly abrupt dismissal of Kant's philosophy. This paper suggests that James's real target is his host, George Holmes Howison, whose Philosophical Union had invited James to speak at Berkeley. James and Howison shared a common commitment to pluralism in opposition to the Absolute monism such as Josiah Royce was developing. Howison relies on Kant's account of the a priori as well as his moral ideal of a Kingdom of Ends in order to fashion a pluralistic form of |idealism that would avoid the errors he found in Absolute monism while also countering the influential evolutionary philosophy of Herbert Spencer. While James shared Howison's opposition to monism, as well as his critical view of Spencer, he did not share his aversion to evolutionary ideas. Ultimately, the pragmatism that he announced at Berkeley would reply to Howison's Kantian approach by retaining a pluralism while building on the modern psychology growing out of evolution. James's position would test the alliance that they had forged against monism. In time, it would prove too fragile to withstand their growing differences until a final break came in the year before James's death. Keywords: William James, George Howison, pluralism, idealism, pragmatism, evolution, When William James arrived to address a California audience in August 1898, the America of 1900 a mere year and a half away. The transition from the old century to [...]

Students of William James typically regard 'Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results' as the place where he introduces pragmatism to the intellectual world as a uniquely American approach to philosophy. There, James describes the lineage of pragmatism with its origins in the work of Peirce and provides his own variant on the original. James next proceeds to illustrate the method by applying it to traditional metaphysical problems. The current paper explores an additional reading of James's address, one that places it within the context of the contemporary national debate surrounding the 1898 War with Spain and its emergent imperialist aftermath. This paper examines how the philosophical advantages that James claims for the pragmatic method when directed to the technical problems of philosophy can be read as addressing issues surrounding that war and the public debate that it aroused. In 'Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results' pragmatism emerges not only as a point of view for professional philosophers in their struggle with perennial technical problems of metaphysics, but also as a powerful tool for addressing the timely matters of national policy surrounding America's imperialist adventure within the wider, non-Technical public sphere of practical life. Keywords: William James, Pragmatism, Spanish-American War, Imperialism, California, '...in every genuine metaphysical debate some practical issue, however conjectural and remote, is involved' --William James, 1898 By all accounts, William James was having an astonishing year in 1898. Robert [...]

Strenuous effort on behalf of moral ideals was a life-long concern for William James. Growing out of his own well-documented personal struggles as a young man, it was also a cultural phenomenon in late 19th century America. For many, the cause of the problem of depleted moral energy was environmental. Herbert Spencer's definition of mind as the correspondence of inner relations to outer relations lent intellectual support to this reduction of moral lethargy to environmental factors and writers such as George Beard and Theodore Roosevelt seemed to be in agreement. While many employed America as an environment in this cultural discussion, William James resisted this environmental reductionism and instead employed 'America' as a metaphorical trope around which he organized his thoughts on moral energy. This was no mere literary device on James' part, but instead a reflection of his own disagreements with Spencer that led James to articulate his own groundbreaking model of consciousness as reflex action. As the framework for addressing the issue of moral strenuousness. Keywords: William James, Theodore Roosevelt, George M. Beard, Moral Energy, The Strenuous Mood, Neuresthenia, Metaphor, In an essay entitled 'Public Policy and Philosophical Critique: The William James and Theodore Roosevelt Dialogue on Strenuousness' Patrick Dooley examines the public discourse concerning the ebb and flow of [...]

As his first public statement of pragmatism, 'Philosophical Conceptions & Practical Results' occupies a central place among James' works. This paper examines a diverse stream of sources that flowed through James' mind during the months leading up to its August 1898 delivery in California. A quarrel with Peirce over the nature of philosophy, an invitation to deliver the Gifford Lectures in Scotland, America's war with Spain, and his own mystical experience in the Adirondack twilight coalesced into this remarkable statement that announced the entry of America's distinctive voice into the wider philosophical conversations of Europe. More than merely tracing sources, the paper uses them to foreground the broad scope of concern that pragmatism possesses as these disparate founts of influence are fused in a lecture remarkable for its philosophical content, self conscious awareness of its distinctively American character, and its metaphorically rich style. Keywords: Peirce, Walpurgisnacht, metaphor, California, pragmatism, Gifford Lectures, American philosophy, 'Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results' has long been recognized for the special place that it occupies in the history of American philosophy. In it, American pragmatism enters into a wider, [...]

7‐11 November 2010, Tenth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection, Glasgow, UK, Purpose 15‐30% of HAART‐treated HIV‐1‐positive patients (pts) lack CD4+ increase despite full HIV viremia suppression. The increased risk for INR to progress till AIDS led us to investigate maraviroc (MVC) [...]

7‐11 November 2010, Tenth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection, Glasgow, UK, Background Switch to unboosted atazanavir (ATV 400 mg qd), although not licensed in Europe, is an attractive off‐label option due to convenience and tolerability. However there is a substantial lack [...]