The Journal of Speculative Philosophy

A constant and colorful feature of William James's writing is his generous appraisal of those individuals who left their impression on his mind. James's pages abound with cameo portraits of philosophers and scientists both famous and obscure, religious mystics, Viennese peasant women and Brockton murderers; these are major actors and anonymous bit players in life's drama. One of most intriguing of these supporting figures is Giovanni Papini. Best known, perhaps, are the references in Pragmatism where he emerges as the originator of the famous "corridor" metaphor. This scant evidence gives little indication of just how controversial a figure Papini turns out to be in the history of pragmatism in Italy. While James praises Giovanni Papini in the most extravagant terms for his originality, rhetorical flair, and uncompromisingly militant pragmatic spirit, this enthusiasm is not shared by others who have subsequently written on Italian pragmatism. Writers on both sides of the Atlantic have questioned whether Papini truly deserves the lavish praise that James so readily bestows upon him. Some question whether he should be identified as a pragmatist, and few even question whether he deserves to be treated as a serious philosopher at all.

This negative appraisal of Giovanni Papini stands in marked opposition to James's own enthusiasm and thus presents the reader with a puzzle. It would seem that few could claim a better vantage point from which to judge Papini's pragmatic pedigree than James himself. What stronger claim to legitimacy could any philosophical unknown hope for if not to point to the effusive praise issuing from the foremost thinker of the philosophical school to which this unknown claims allegiance?¹ Yet James's abundant generosity toward perceived allies is well known. Might this be a case of James's own sympathetic nature running away with his better judgment? Might James's own opposition to so much of the philosophical establishment have led him to respond with favor to the reckless verve and iconoclasm of any young philosophical firebrand? This essay shall investigate the puzzle that is Giovanni Papini. It will endeavor to show that while his critics are certainly correct to identify his pragmatic "heresies," at the same time they have neglected to be sufficiently Jamesian in their evaluation of Papini. James's own conception of the activity of philosophizing, as it is [End Page 187] described in his doctrine of reflex action, will be crucial to our argument. Papini's critics have a case, yet it turns out to be less damaging to Papini's pragmatism than they believe.

"The Most Radical Conceiver of Pragmatism to be Found Anywhere," or A Case of Mistaken Identity?

In The Principles of Psychology, William James offers a lively picture of the explosive will, one of the two major kinds of unhealthy will found in human beings. Its name is descriptive enough; it is the will one finds in the dare-devil and in persons of mercurial temperaments. Such a will is marked by a level of spontaneous energy that is so lively and exuberant that inhibitions get no time to arise. James's example is marvelously evocative:

An explosive Italian with good perception and intellect will cut a figure as a perfectly tremendous fellow, on an inward capital that could be tucked away inside of an obstructed Yankee and hardly let you know that it was there. He will be the king of his company, sing the songs and make the speeches, lead the parties, carry out the practical jokes, kiss the girls, fight the men, and, if need be, lead the forlorn hopes and enterprises, so that an onlooker would think that he has more life in his little finger than can exist in the whole body of a correct judicious fellow.²

How remarkable that this nameless explosive Italian should find so complete an incarnation a decade and a half later in the person of Giovanni Papini! James himself...