William James · Philosophy

Radical Empiricism and the Pluralistic Universe

James’s mature metaphysics: that relations and connections are themselves directly experienced (radical empiricism), and that reality is not one closed system (the ‘block universe’) but a genuinely open, plural, unfinished world still in the making.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that radical empiricism treats relations as directly experienced and real, and that James’s pluralism rejects the monist ‘block universe’ in favour of an open, unfinished, ‘each-form’ world where novelty, chance, and freedom are genuine. Explain both ideas and how they connect…

Leads to G. W. F. Hegel.

Begin this lesson →
← All lessons on William James

epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.