Nature's Beloved Incarnations: Inquiry, Conviction, and William James

Crose explores the sources, character, and implications of William James's creative approach to nature on three levels: first, its development in his upbringing with scientific and religious influences, especially in his a vocational interests in perspectives and practices that displayed the immaterial operating within the natural; second, the philosophical manifestations of his theories of nature with his mingling of body and mind in his scientific and philosophical psychology, religious studies, pragmatism, and radical empiricism; and third, their cultural and political application in the use of his ideas to promote simultaneous respect for a culture of inquiry and for a culture of conviction. The biographical serves to illuminate the theoretical, and both point to James as a resource for coping with the polarizations that frequently animate but sometimes threaten our democracies. To provide an understanding of the legacy and potential usefulness of James's ideas in contemporary discourse, Crose explores James's theories by examining his biography, where he and his ideas came from.