Upcoming Events
Annual Meeting
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Conferences, Symposia, Colloquia, and Panels
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Past Events
Annual Meetings
The William James Society 2010 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Boston, December 27-30, 2010.
• Paul J. Croce (Stetson), Presidential Address: "The Predisciplinary James."
• Session topic: "James Across the Disciplines."
• Speakers: Ramón del Castillo (Madrid), "The Comic Mind of William James;" Loren Goldman (Chicago), "The Ideological James: Radical Appropriations of a Liberal Philosoper;" and Emma Sutton (Wellcome Institute), "James and the Politics of Psychotherapy."
• Commentator: Francesca Bordogna (Northwestern).
The William James Society 2009 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, New York, December 27-30, 2009.
• Meeting theme: Jamesian Pluralisms.
• Speakers: H. G. Callaway (Philadelphia) and Frederick Ruf (Georgetown University).
• Commentator: Wesley Cooper (Alberta).
• Chair: Paul Croce (Stetson).
• Business Meeting: Lynn Bridgers (St. Norbert College), Secretary-Treasurer, WJS.
The William James Society 2008 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Philadelphia, December 28, 2008.
• Presidential Address by David Lamberth (Harvard), "What to Make of James’s ‘Genetic Theory’ of Truth.”
• Meeting theme: "Truth and Live Experience in William James."
• Speakers: Harvey Cormier (Stony Brook) and Amy Kittelstrom (Sonoma State).
• Commentator: Paul Croce (Stetson).
• Business Meeting: Lynn Bridgers (St. Norbert College), Secretary-Treasurer, WJS.
The William James Society 2007 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Baltimore, December 28, 2007.
• Presidential Address by John Lachs (Vanderbilt).
• Meeting theme: "Human Blindness."
• Speakers: James Pawelski (Pennsylvania), Fred Ruf (Georgetown).
• Commentator: David Leary.
• Business Meeting: Micah Hester (UAMS), Secretary-Treasurer, WJS.
The William James Society 2006 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Washington, DC, December 28, 2006. Chair: John Lachs (Vanderbilt).
• Presidential Panel: William James and Literature.
• Patrick Dooley (St. Bonaventure University), "William James's 'Specious Present' and Willa Cather's Phenomenology of Memory."
• Joan Richardson (CUNY Graduate Center), "William James's Feeling 'Of If.'"
• Peter Hare (SUNY Buffalo), "William James, Literary Imagination, and Epistemology."
• Business Meeting: Micah Hester (UAMS), Secretary-Treasurer, WJS.
The William James Society 2005 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, New York, December 29, 2005.
• Presidential Address by William Gavin, "Problem vs. Trouble: James, Kafka, Dostoevsky, and 'The Will to Believe.'"
• Panel topic: "Charlene Seigfried's William James's Radical Reconstruction of Philosophy, Fifteen Years Later."
• Speakers: John Capps, Megan Mustain, David Perley, Richard Shusterman, Charlene Seigfried.
The William James Society 2004 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Boston, December 30, 2004.
• Panel topic : "Harry Heft's Ecological Psychology in Context." Moderator: Mark Moller (Denison University).
• Commentators: Tom Burke (University of South Carolina), Jack Sanders (Rochester Institute of Technology), Barry Smith (University of Buffalo).
• Respondent: Harry Heft (Denison).
The William James Society 2003 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Washington, DC, December 28, 2003.
• Presidential Address by Linda Simon (Skidmore College).
• Panel topic: "Conceptualizing William James: The Interface of Biography and the Scholarship of Ideas." Chair: Robert Talisse (Vanderbilt University).
• Harvey Cormier (State University of New York - Stony Brook), "Philosophy in the Life of James."
• John Danisi (Wagner College), "Psychology in the Life of James."
• John Roth (Claremont McKenna College), "Religion in the Life of James."
The William James Society 2002 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Philadelphia, December 29, 2002.
• Presidential Address by John J. McDermott (Texas A&M University).
• Meeting theme: "James's Melorism: Escape from Tragedy."
• Speakers: Dwight Goodyear (New School University), Henry Jackman (York University).
• Respondant: Richard Gale (University of Pittsburgh).
The William James Society 2001 Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Atlanta, December 28, 2001.
• Meeting theme: "Fronting Life in the 21st Century: James in the New Century."
• Phil Oliver, "James and the Return to Life."
• Robert Talisse, "The Need for a Moral Equivalent of War."
• William Gavin, "Vagueness, Death and Dying in the New Millennium."
Conferences, Symposia, Colloquia, and Panels
William James Conference in Portugal, November 2010. The University of Coimbra, with the support of the “Science and Technology Foundation” and of the Philosophy Department of the University, is sponsoring a conference on William James in November 2010. The organizers seek collaboration with members of the William James Society, and they plan presentations on pragmatic philosophy, history of pragmatism, logic, semiotics, consciousness and the stream of consciousness, the mind-body problem, and philosophy of psychology.
"In the Footsteps of William James: A Symposium to Honor – and Make Use of – James’s Ideas," Chocorua, NH, and Cambridge, MA, August 13-16, 2010. Sponsored by the William James Society. More >>
"William James and the Transatlantic Conversation," Oxford University, September 23-25, 2010. Keynote speakers: David A. Hollinger (Berkeley) and David C. Lambeth (Harvard). More >>
"Revisioning Pragmatism: William James in the New Millennium," Hamburg University, Germany, June 24-26, 2010. Organizers: Susanne Rohr (Hamburg University) and Miriam Strube (Paderborn University). More >>
"What Makes a Life Significant? A Panel Discussion in Memory of William James," Center for Government and International Studies, Harvard University, April 26, 2010. Panel consisting of Arthur Kleinman (Rabb Professor of Anthropology), Luke Menand (Bass Professor of English), and Cornel West (Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton); introduced and moderated by Jim Kloppenberg (Warren Professor of American History). More >>
James Turner, Cavanaugh Professor of Humanities and Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, will deliver the George H. Shriver Lectures on Religion in American History, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, February 9-10, 2010. The lectures are jointly sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of History, with the cooperation of the William James Society.
• The Lecture Series: “The Study of Religions in America: The Early Years,” February 9 at 7:00 pm (in the Stetson Room in the CUB) and on February 10 at noon (in 25L in the Library) and 7:00 pm (in the Stetson Room).
• On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of William James, Turner will discuss, in his last lecture, how James's Varieties of Religious Experience affected the teaching of religion in America.
The William James Society sponsored two sessions at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, College Station, TX, March 2009:
(1) Topic: "William James: Healthy-Mindedness and the Science of Well-Being." Chair: Paul Croce.
• James Pawelski (Pennsylvania), "William James, Healthy-Mindedness, and the Science of Well-Being."
• James Averill (Massachusetts) and Elma P. Nunley (ACT Counseling Center), "Emotion, Creativity, and Healthy-Mindedness: Are They Compatible?"
• Stephen Fishman (University of North Carolina, Charlotte) and Lucille McCarthy (University of Maryland, Baltimore), "Positive Thinking, Positive Psychology, and The Nature of Virtue."
• Commentator: Paul Croce.
(2) Topic: Enlarging Personality: Pedagogical, Subliminal, and Social Aspects of Healthy-Mindedness."
• Norris Frederick (Queens University of Charlotte), William James, Talks to Teachers, and Healthy Mindedness.
• Megan Mustain (St. Mary's), The Relations of Healthy-Mindedness: Examining the Social Character of New Thought.
• Thibaud Trochu (Université Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne), The Myers’s Problem Today.
"William James as Social and Political Philosopher" at the APhilA Central Division Meeting, Chicago, April 17, 2008, 9am-12pm.
• John Kaag (Harvard University), "A Call to Arms? William James on Militarism and Political Unity."
• Colin Koopman (University of California, Santa Cruz), "Pragmatism's Pluralism."
• Andrew F. Smith (State University of New York, Stony Brook), "Communication and Conviction: James's Contribution to Deliberative Democracy."
• Commentator: Noelle McAfee (George Mason University).
Third Annual Atlantic Coast Pragmatist Meeting, April 5-6, 2008, University of North Carolina (Asheville). Chair: Russell Goodman (New Mexico).
• Discussion topic: William James, "What Pragmatism Means in Pragmatism."
"William James and the Importance of Individuals" at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Baltimore, December 28, 2007. Chair: Gregory Fahy (Maine-Augusta).
Presented by the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy.
• James Pawelski (Pennsylvania), "William James's Dynamic Individualism."
• William Gavin (Southern Maine) "Pragmatism and the Individual at the End of Life."
"William James: Pragmatism, 1907-2007" (Italian Centennary Conference in Celebration of the Publication of Pragmatism) November 16, 2007, Università del Salento (Lecce, Italy).
• Speakers: G. Campioni, C. Dalla Pozza, T. Foresti, S. Franzese, F. Minazzi, S. Poggi, M. Protti, T. Raffaelli, and G. Invitto.
"One Hundred Years of Pragmatism," October 26-28, 2007, University of Saskatchewan.
Presented by the Western Canadian Philosophical Association.
• Keynote Speaker: Robert Brandom (Pittsburgh).
"William James and His Influence," October 19-20, 2007, Yale Divinity School.
Presented by the William James Society, the Yale Department of Philosophy, and the Yale Divinity School.
• Richard Bernstein (New School), "The Ethical Implications of James's Pluralism."
• Peter Hare (SUNY), "Deep Conceptual Play in William James."
"William James and Josiah Royce a Century Later: Pragmatism and Idealism in Dialogue," May 25-27, 2007, Lowell Lecture Hall, Harvard University.
Hosted by Harvard Divinity School in conjunction with the Josiah Royce Society, the William James Society, and the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy. Speakers to include John Clendenning, Harvey Cormier, Hans Joas, Jacquelyn Kegley, James Kloppenberg, David Lamberth, John Lachs, John J. McDermott, Frank Oppenheim, Hilary Putnam, Robert Richardson, Sandra Rosenthal, Linda Simon, Ignas Skrupskelis, and Cornel West.
APhilA Central Division, Chicago, April 18-21, 2007. Topic: Revisiting 'The Will to Believe.' Chair: Robert Talisse (Vanderbilt).
• Guy Axtell (UN-Reno), "Jamesian Pluralism, Reconsidered."
• Scott Aikin (Vanderbilt), "Evidentialism and James's Argument from Friendship."
• James Bednar (UA-Hunstville), "Waiting Till Doomsday."
• Commentator: Cheryl Misak (Toronto)
"Pragmatism Revisited: A Conference on William James," April 13, 2007, Gasson Hall, Boston College.
• Fred Bauer (Assumption College), "James, the Kepler of Psychology."
• Richard Cobb-Stevens (Boston College), "William James on Time and the Self."
• Brian Treanor (Loyola-Marymount), "The Demonstrable and the Ineluctable: Pragmatism, Postmodernity, and the Leap of Faith."
• Nicolas de Warren (Wellesley), "The Historical Context of William James' Theory of Time-Consciousness."
APhilA Pacific Division, San Francisco, April 3-8, 2007. Chair: Brendan Hogan (Pacific Lutheran).
• Heidi White (NYU), "Pragmatism and Our Relations with Others."
• Lee McBride (College of Wooster), "The Dynamic Belt of Quivering Uncertainty: Individual Differences."
• Kevin S. Decker (Eastern Washington University), "Between Bare Brute Events and Transparent Meaning: Dewey and James on Recognition."
• Commentator: Terrance MacMullan (Eastern Washington University).
SAAP, Columbia, SC, March 8-10, 2007.
• Panel topic: "William James - Influences, Ancestors, and Applications."
• Paul Croce (Stetson), "From Swedenborgian Philosophy of Use to William James's Pragmatism."
• Tadd Ruetenik (Penn), "War-Hawking and Other Addictions: Social Criticism in Henry and William James."
• Robert Richardson, "Pragmatism and Darwin."
APhilA Central Division, Chicago, April 26-29, 2006. Topic: "William James's Philosophy of Religion." Chair: David Vessey (University of Chicago).
• S. Nassir Ghaemi (Emory University), "William James and the Psychology of Religious Experience."
• Jacob Lynn Goodson (University of Virginia), "William James on the Doctrine of Transubstantiation."
• Roger Ward (Georgetown College), "Jamesean Conversion."
• Commentator: Elizabeth Cooke (Creighton University).
APhilA Pacific Division, Portland, OR, March 22-26, 2006. Topic: "William James's Ethics." Chair: Mark Moller (Denison).
• Wesley Cooper (Alberta), "Cerebralism and Voluntarism in James's Will-to-Believe Doctrine."
• Henry Jackman (York), "James, Objectivity, and Ethical Truth."
• Todd Lekan (Muskingum College), "Strenuous Moral Living."
The William James Society held two symposia organized by John Snarey at the APA Annual Convention, Chicago, August 2002.
• Division 26, History of Psychology. Topic: "Historical Perspectives on William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience." Participants: Hendrika Vande Kemp, John Snarey, Marcia Ian, Lynn Bridgers, Richard L. Gorsuch, J. Ryan Snyder.
• Division 36, Psychology of Religion. Topic: "Contemporary Readings of William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience." Participants: Eugene Taylor, William Douglas Woody, Janet C. de Baca, William R. Miller, Mark Krejci, Robert Emmons, E. Mark Stern.
The William James Society sponsored a panel at the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, Portland, ME, March 2002. Topic: "William James's Varieties: Emotions as/in Religious Experience." Chair: William Gavin.
• Phil Oliver, "Varieties of Emotional Experience: James's Radical Turn."
• Lynn Bridgers, "Embodied Emotion: The Centrality of Caritas in William James's Varieties."
• Respondent: David C. Lamberth.