Sick Souls, Healthy Minds

Sick Souls by John Kaag

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This book is an interweaving of three topics: (a) Jamesian philosophy, (b) James' biography, and (c) the author's reaction to William James. The best part of the book is the author's treatment of the third topic. A reader going into this book looking for a systematic treatment of William James' life or the philosophy of pragmatism is going to be disappointed. Kaag's interest in James is ultimately limited to the theme of staving off depression and suicide.

Author John Kaag starts his book with the observation that “William James's entire philosophy, from beginning to end, was geared to save a life, his life.” Shortly therafter, Kaag offers this as the core point of James' philosophy in that regard: “To such a culture, James gently, persistently urges, “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”

Anyone familiar with James' “Will to Believe” will recognize this as the gist of James' religious philosophy: a person can come to believe by acting and thinking as if they were already a believer. From that perspective, one can then assess the value of the religion adopted. This certainly seems a “pragmatic” and practical approach to problems that are typically insoluble by mere reasoning, and, hence, is why James' philosophy is called “Pragmatism.”

Kaag follows James' life from youth to old age. This account provides a good survey of James' biography. It should serve a fledgling Jamesian scholar as a springboard to dive deeper into James' life. By calling this a survey, I don't want to disrespect that depth that Kaag brings to his subject. He provides the reader with quotes and excerpts from James' letters and other writings. However, again, the purpose of the book is to explore the issue of saving one's life from ennue and angst.

The best part of the book is the author's biographical interaction with James. This part can be very affecting. The author describes his own problems with existence, e.g.,. confronting a suicide, the death of his marriage, finding love after the death of his first love, having a child and, then, having his second marriage fail. I became more interested in the author's life than James, which is probably not the impact the book should have had. With respect to those travails, Kaag applies and discusses James' theories of psychology to explain his own conflict and resolution.

This is a good book for those with an interest in William James or psychology.