Determinismo, psicología y moral en las fuentes de William James
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Abstract
By the second half of the 19th century a strong positivist attitude shaped a deterministic world. The scientific method seemed to demand a causal continuity in all dimensions of phenomena, which came into tension with everything related to the motivational and volitional structure of the subject. William James intervenes in the debate, takes into account various aspects of the problem and brings into play his reading of English psychologists (Mill, Bain y Spencer) and Renouvier. We will give an account of the vital consequences that the problem of determinism has for the American thinker. The sense in which English psychologists are determinists and how Renouvier opposes them. And also the way in which James appropriates the French's arguments, making them operate at different levels in his psychological and philosophical reflection.
Keywords
William James, psychology, 19th century, determinism, will
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