The Department of Philosophy is delighted to announce that Jacob Bunzl has completed his PhD, titled “The Religious Naturalism of William James. A New Interpretation on Through the Lens of ‘Liberal Naturalism”
This thesis argues that recent developments in philosophical naturalism mandate a new naturalistic reading of William James. To that end, it presents the first comprehensive reading of James through the lens of liberal rather than scientific naturalism.
Chapter 1 offers an extensive survey of the varieties of philosophical naturalism that provides the conceptual tools required for the rest the thesis, and allows us to provisionally locate James within the field.
Chapter 2 provides a detailed chronological treatment of James’s key published works, seeking to understand the development of certain core naturalistic themes over the course of his career.
Finally, chapter three argues that reconstructed versions of James’s doctrines of panpsychism and emergentism, in addition to being coherent and fertile in their own right, serve as the basis for a restoration of his theistic naturalism; the missing keystone of his mature philosophy.
Congratulations to Jacob on his achievement.