Originally published in French in 1997 and appearing here in English for the first time, David Lapoujade's William James: Empiricism and Pragmatism is both an accessible and rigorous introduction to James's thought and a pioneering rereading of it. Examining pragmatism's fundamental questions through a Deleuzian framework, Lapoujade outlines how James's pragmatism and radical empiricism encompass the study of experience and the making of reality, and he reopens the speculative side of pragmatist thought and the role of experience in it. The book includes an extensive afterword by translator Thomas Lamarre, who illustrates how James's interventions are becoming increasingly central to the contemporary debates about materialist ontology, affect, and epistemology that strive to bridge the gaps among science studies, media studies, and religious studies.

A Note on References  vii
Preface / Thomas Lamarre  ix
Introduction  1
1. Radical Empiricism  9
2. Truth and Knowledge  27
3. Faith and Pragmatic Community  51
Conclusion  73
Afterword: Diversity as Method / Thomas Lamarre  77
Notes  119
Bibliography  137
Index  143