Annual Meetings

Past Meetings

The William James Society Annual Meeting at the 2023 Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Annual Meeting

Topic: William James and the Moral Life: Responsible Self-Fashioning

Todd Lekan, University of South Carolina
John Capps, Rochester Institute of Technology
Tadd Ruetenik, St. Ambrose University

The William James Society Annual Meeting at the 2021 APA Eastern Division Meeting, Held Virtually

January 7-9 and January 14-16, 2021

William James Society
Presidential Address and Young Scholar’s Award Presentation
Chair: Stephen Bush (Brown University)
Speakers: Megan Mustain (Saint Mary’s College of California): Presidential Address
Justina Torrance (Harvard University): “Perception as a Moral Behavior in the Principles
of Psychology and the Varieties of Religious Experience”

The William James Society Annual Meeting at the 2020 APA Eastern Division Meeting, Philadelphia, PA

January 8-11, 2020

Topic: Themes in William James’s Philosophy
Chair: Stephen Bush (Brown University)
Speakers: David Yaden (University of Pennsylvania): “William James’s Conversion to Self-Report Survey Methods in Psychological Research”
James Pawelski (University of Pennsylvania): “William James and the Quest for Meaningful
Measurement”
Jake Spinelli (University of Illinois Chicago): Winner of the William James Society Young
Scholar’s Prize

The William James Society Annual Meeting at the 2019 APA Eastern Division Meeting, New York City, NY

When: Tues, Jan 8, 2019, 2:00-5:00pm

Henry Jackman (York University) Presidential Address: “James on Moral Philosophy and Its Regulative Ideals”

Benjamin Davis (Emory University) Young Scholar Essay Prize: “Pragmatic Interruption: Habits, Environments, Ethics”

The William James Society Annual Meeting at the APA Eastern Division Meeting,
Savannah, GA, January 3-6, 2018.

[cancelled due to weather]
G141, Friday, Jan. 5, 7-10pm

I. Topic: Author Meets Readers: Jim Campbell’s Experiencing William James
Chair: Megan Mustain (Saint Mary’s College of California)
Speakers: James Campbell (University of Toledo)
Greg Moses (Texas State University)
Tadd Reutenik (St. Ambrose University)

II. Winner of the 2017 WJS Young Scholar Prize
Kyle Bromhall (Independent Scholar) “Embodied Akrasia: James on Motivation and Weakness of Will.”

III. Business Meeting

The William James Society Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting,
Baltimore, MD, January 4-7, 2017.
G7A, Thursday, 2:00–5:00 p.m

• James Pawelski, University of Pennsylvania,  “William James and Well-Being: The Science and Culture of Human Flourishing” (Presidential Address)

•Jeremy Clifton:  The Pragmatic Value of Primal World Beliefs

•David Yaden:  New Approaches to the Varieties of Religious Experience

•Business Meeting

The William James Society Annual Meeting at the APhilA Eastern Division Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 6-9, 2016.

• Chair: James Pawelski, University of Pennsylvania.

•Robert Talisse, Vanderbilt, “Pluralism and Toleration in James’s Social Philosophy.”

•Russel Duvernoy, University of Oregon, “‘Concepts’ and Continuity: Onto-Epistemology in William James” (2015 WJS Young Scholar Prizer Winner)

•Commentator: Henry Jackman, York University

•Business Meeting

The William James Society 2014 Annual Meeting at the APA Eastern Division Meeting,
Philadelphia Marriot Downtown, December 29, 2014.

• Ermine Algaier (Temple University), “Reconstructing James’s Early Radical Empiricism: the 1896 Preface and the “Spirit of Inner Tolerance”” (Young Scholar Prize)

• James Campbell (The University of Toledo), “The Early Reception of James’s Varieties” (Presidential Address)

• Business Meeting

The William James Society 2013 Annual Meeting at the APA Eastern Division Meeting, Baltimore, December 27-30, 2013.

• Matthew A. Foust (Central Connecticut State University), “The Feminist Pacifism of William James and Mary Whiton Calkins”

• Session Topic: Winner of the William James Society Young Scholar Prize and Business Meeting

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 APA 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 APA 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 APA 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 APA 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 APA 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 APA 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 APA 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 APA 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 APA 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.”