William James


William James (January 11, 1842-August 26, 1910), an American-born philosopher and psychologist, was the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. He is labeled "The Father of American Psychology" and one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced. As the founder of functional psychology, he spent his entire academic career at Harvard and introduced an experimental psychology course at the university in 1875. James also developed the philosophical perspective known as radical empiricism. Among his classic works are Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking; The Meaning of Truth; and The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. His monumental, two-volume Principles of Psychology was twelve years in the making.