Far from the impartial, friendly and professional image of William James (1842-1910), this study shows decisive but unattended facets of the great psychologist and pragmatist, considered as the greatest American thinker of his generation and whose influence remains to this day. Beyond his understanding of historical change and permanence, James understood perfectly the capacity of a national elite to profile and intensify its way of operating and its deep dynamics.
Through an outline of James' life and his personal, social and intellectual influences, the author illustrates in a detailed analysis to what extent the timid professor and patrician of Harvard contributed to the creation of a national consciousness prepared to internationalize.
The picture thus configured throws the lights and shadows of a personality that is forged almost dialectically in the historical circumstances and the political and ideological imperatives of his time.