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William James and the Metaphilosophy of Individualism
Author(s) -
Rondel David
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
metaphilosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1467-9973
pISSN - 0026-1068
DOI - 10.1111/meta.12480
Subject(s) - individualism , perspective (graphical) , argument (complex analysis) , metaphilosophy , epistemology , element (criminal law) , methodological individualism , sociology , philosophy , positive economics , law , political science , economics , computer science , medicine , artificial intelligence , philosophy education
This paper argues that an individualist perspective is a crucial element of William James’s metaphilosophical outlook. In broad outline, the individualist argument the paper attributes to James can be characterized like this. Disputes among philosophers about the optimal point of view from which to consider this or that philosophical problem are themselves only adequately adjudicated from an individualist perspective. That is, when it comes to an assortment of important philosophical questions (not all of them perhaps, but a significant number), an individualist perspective should replace a more objective one, and whether it should or not is itself a question that should be decided from an individualist perspective.