William James’s Assessment of Nihilism as a Psychological Phenomenon

William James, the American philosopher and psychologist, drew on his own severe depression at age 27 to address nihilism. In his 1896 essay “Is Life Worth Living?” and the 1902 chapter “The Sick Soul,” James proposed a solution to nihilism that, despite different formulation, matches the essence of solutions by Jean Paul and Poul Martin Møller. James’s originality lies in treating nihilism as a psychological problem rather than a purely philosophical one.

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Abstract

The present article examines the contribution to the problem of nihilism found in the American philosopher and psychologist William James, specifically in his essay “Is Life Worth Living?” from 1896 and the chapter “The Sick Soul” from his The Varieties of Religious Experience from 1902. At the age of 27, James suffered a period of intense depression that lasted from the fall of 1869 until the spring of 1870. This experience shaped his views on nihilism. The present article argues that James’s proposed solution to the problem of nihilism, although formulated rather differently, is in essence the same as that of Jean Paul and the Danish thinker Poul Martin Møller. James’s originality can be found in his treatment of the issue as a psychological problem.