John Kaag

"In his diaries, the American philosopher and psychologist William James, for whom the personal and the philosophical were never far apart, recounted how in his late twenties he was confronted with existential despair regarding the issue of free will: do humans have the capacity to act freely and meaningfully? James famously decided that his "first act of free will is to believe in free will," and declared that, "if you can change your mind, you can...

"A group biography of the Blood family of Massachusetts, with a focus on their remarkable contributions to major events in American history"--

"John Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It...

"In his review of Sick Souls, Healthy Minds (Princeton 2020), New York Times Book Review editor John Williams wrote: "I'd advise you to read Kaag's primer...But if you haven't read James himself, do that first. It's wonderful that he inspires intermediaries to bring his thought to modern-day readers, but his cogent and humane work doesn't strictly need intermediaries. He remains ready to help you directly." Williams is right: William James does not...