James, William
James, William( 1842–1910),son of Henry James, Sr., was born in New York City, and spent his boyhood, with his brother Henry and two other brothers, in private study in Europe and at Newport. In 1860–61 he tested one of his apparent aptitudes by studying painting under W. M. Hunt at Newport, but abandoned this career to study at Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard (1861–64), and then at Harvard Medical School, which he left to accompany Agassiz on an expedition to collect zoological specimens in Brazil (1865–66). After another year in the Medical School, and a year abroad, he received his M.D. (1869). Physical weakness and a nervous condition that prevented his entering practice or laboratory research caused a period of pessimistic self-doubt, which ended in 1870, partly owing to his reading of Renouvier, whose psychological theories convinced him of the possibility of moral freedom. His long career of teaching at Harvard began in...
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