Harvard Professor

At the start of his 34-year career at Harvard, James taught Natural History 3: Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrates.

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- He was eager, however, to move into the new field of “mental science,” emerging, he told Charles Eliot, “out of the theory of evolution and the facts of archeology, the nervous system and the senses.” Eliot granted his proposal: in 1875-6, James offered the first graduate course in psychology taught in America, and the following year offered to undergraduates Natural History 2: Physiological Psychology. He used Herbert Spencer’s Principles of Psychology as a text, and found Spencer infuriating. A rabid Darwinian, Spencer, according to James, believed the environment had far too much influence on human behavior: for example, that acquired habits could be passed on to descendents.
  
  In the nineteenth century, psychology was not yet represented by an academic department, but was subsumed within Natural History or Philosophy. With his interest in consciousness, will, faith, and cognition, James found a more congenial home in Philosophy. Beginning in 1878, he taught Philosophy 4: Psychology and Philosophy 3, which focused on evolution and nature. Later courses included Philosophy 9 (2): Metaphysics; and Philosophy D: General Problems of Philosophy.
  As James took on new teaching responsibilities, he also began to establish himself in philosophical publications such as the Journal of Speculative Philosophy and Mind. “The Sentiment of Rationality,” “Brute and Human Intellect,” and “The Dilemma of Determinism” show James considering questions of agency, interest, and motive—including, he said, “the motives which lead men to philosophize”; taking a stand against Spencer and Hegel; and aligning himself with John Stuart Mill, Alexander Bain, and Renouvier.
  
  In 1878, Holt Publishers offered him a contract to write a psychology textbook to replace the weak offerings then available. James accepted, cautioning the publisher that it might take two years for him to complete it. It took twelve.

In this section

	WJ. [Examination questions for] Natural History 2.	Herbert Spencer. The principles of psychology. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1871-73.

	WJ. “Puppies and Guns” [letter to the Editor] published in Field and Stream [1888?].	WJ. Syllabus of Philosophy 3. Printed pamphlet with autograph manuscript revisions, 28 January 1903.

	WJ. Examination questions for Philosophy 9 [Notebook 17]. Cambridge, 1904-1905.	WJ. Class list and notes for first class meeting of Philosophy 9 [Notebook 17]. Autograph manuscript, signed; Cambridge, 1904-1905.

	WJ. Syllabus in Philosophy D. Printed sheets with autograph annotations and revisions [ca. 1905].	George Herbert Palmer. William Notman, photographer. Photograph, undated.

	Josiah Royce. Pach Brothers, photographer. Photograph, 1877.	John Stuart Mill. A system of logic, ratiocinative and inductive: being a connected view of the principles of evidence and the methods of scientific investigation.

	[List of William James' salaries at Harvard University]. Typescript, undated.