William Osler's philosophy / by Ludwig Edelstein.

  • Ludwig Edelstein
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: William Osler's philosophy / by Ludwig Edelstein. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    unconvincing that the scientist Osier, the pupil of Huxley, could be indebted to his own inspiration for an understanding of the working of the human intellect that differs so greatly from that of his master. Osier’s ana¬ tomical investigations into the brain show clearly on what grounds he really based his dissent.3 But even if one feels one may safely disregard Osier’s own comments on the sources of his philosophy, one must nevertheless admit that opinions such as those held by him in regard to man’s nature may derive from many different systems or may simply summarize one’s experience. In Osier’s case, their similarity to those of James may be due to a similarity of the temperaments of the two men, or to some presuppositions which they had in common. Both Osier and James were deeply influenced by Carlyle’s philosophy of work, both indulged in hero worship and believed that history was made by great men.4 Granted all this, it remains unlikely that Osier, the insatiable reader who closely followed the contemporary scien¬ tific and philosophical debates, should not have been acquainted with James’ Psychology published in 1890, and the many previous and later essays which had made him well known. One should also suppose that the studies of James, who was a scientist and was trained in medicine, must have had a special appeal for the scientist and physician Osier, and I for one cannot believe that they were not instrumental in shaping Osier’s thought.5 However that may be, there remains the agreement with James which Osier himself notes, and there is, from 1904 on, friendship between the two men and, on the part of Osier, a continuous interest in James’ philosophy which now developed into its final form of pragmatism. As for their personal relations, there is a possibility that Osier had met James as early as 1879.6 At any rate, during the last years of James’ life, he and Osier were rather close to each other. In 1908, Osier invites James to be 8 Cf. above p. 275. 4 For Osier’s hero worship (as he called it himself), cf. Cushing, I, 266. For Carlyle, cf. above p. 272. Osier quoted the Carlyle passage for the first time in 1877 (Cushing, ibid., 157) ; cf. also Aequanimitas, 110; 473. For James, cf. Great Men and Their Environment [1880] in The Will to Believe, 1897, 216 ff. For Tames’ relation to Carlyle, cf. R. B. Perry, The Thought and Character of William James, 1936, especially I, 145 f., 159, 464 f.; II, 271, 274, 673 (I owe these references to the kindness of Professor A. O. Lovejoy). 5 In the introduction to James’ Psychology, it is stressed that he has kept close to the point of view of natural science throughout the book” (I, V), and it is also pointed out that several chapters were published before (ibid., VII). 0 Cushing, I, 174; the reference is to the collection of W. James’ letters where, however, Osier is not mentioned.
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