William H James
Biographic Data
| ID | 110956 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William H James |
| GIVEN NAMES | William H |
| FAMILY NAME | James |
| SIGNATURE | JAMES W H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University College London |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 94 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 105 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 94 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1891 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Lecture 1 from The Varieties of Religious Experience
Beginning his studies as a medical student, William James (1842–1910) would rapidly cement his place as one of the leading philosophers and psychologists in the English-speaking world at the turn of the twentieth century. The work excerpted here, his Gifford Lectures (delivered in Edinburgh in 1901 and 1902), is reflective of James’s stature and ambitions – it blends philosophical forays into epistemology (what is it justified to believe?) with p…
An Environmental Cause Common to Sex Determination and Infant Mortality
Population Association
Pragmatism
Studies of Human Sex Ratios at Birth May Lead to the Understanding of Several Forms of Pathology
This article deals with the problem of the causes of the variation of sex ratio (proportion male) at birth. This problem is common to a number of areas in biology and medicine, for example, obstetrics, neurology/psychiatry, parasitology, virology, oncology, and teratology. It is established that there are significantly biased, but unexplained, sex ratios in each of these fields. Yet workers in them (with the possible exception of virology) have r…
Variation of Human Sex Ratios at Birth by the Sex Combinations of the Existing Sibs, and by Reproductive Stopping Rules
Garenne (2009) presented data on the sex ratio of a present birth by the numbers of previous brothers and sisters. In unisexual sibships, the probability of a further girl increases with the number of previous girls; and the probability of a further boy increases with the number of previous boys. Garenne noted that there is an asymmetry in that the effect is stronger with regard to girls than boys. He was uncertain of the cause of this. Here I su…
Amendments to Hypotheses on the Proximate Causes of Variation in Human Sex Ratios at Birth With Parental Infection With Hepatitis B Virus or Toxoplasma Gondii
In a recent paper in this Journal, I offered hypotheses on the offspring sex ratios of women infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii , and on the offspring sex ratios of people who are carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) (James, 2008). Subsequent research suggests that these hypotheses need amending. A detailed account of the amendments is given elsewhere in a specialized journal (James, 2010a). Here they are summarized.
The Categories of Evidence Relating to the Hypothesis That Mammalian Sex Ratios at Birth Are Causally Related to the Hormone Concentrations of Both Parents Around the Time of Conception
This note categorizes the evidence for the hypothesis that mammalian offspring sex ratios (proportions male) are causally related to the hormone levels of both parents around the time of conception. Most of the evidence may be acknowledged to be correlational and observational. As such it might be suspected of having been selected; or of having been subject to other forms of bias or confounding; or, at any rate, of being inadequate as a firm basi…
The Naval History of Great Britain
William James (1780–1827) was a lawyer and naval historian best known for this magisterial history of the Royal Navy between 1793 and 1827. James began to research the role of the Royal Navy in the Revolutionary Wars, publishing five volumes between 1822 and 1824. This was expanded up to 1827 in later editions. In one of the most comprehensive histories of the Navy in the Napoleonic Wars ever published, James' rigorous research methodology using …
The Varieties of Religious Experience
The Gifford Lectures were established in 1885 at the universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh to promote the discussion of 'Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term - in other words, the knowledge of God', and some of the world's most influential thinkers have delivered them. The 1901–2 lectures given in Edinburgh by American philosopher William James (1842–1910) are considered by many to be the greatest in the series. …
Behavioural and Biological Determinants of Human Sex Ratio at Birth
The human sex ratio SR (proportion male) at birth has been reported to vary with many variables. The explanation of this variation is not established, but I have hypothesized that it is partially caused by the hormonal concentrations of both parents around the time of conception. The present note suggests how this hypothesis might accommodate recent sex ratio findings relating to ‘psychosexual restriction’, female genital cutting, sexes of prior …
Variation of the Probability of a Male Birth Within and between Sibships
Stansfield and Carlton [Human Biology 79:255-260 (2007)] reported that the distributions of the combinations of the sexes in human sibships are binomial. They inferred that the probabilities of male births are equal and independent within and across all sibships. Here I argue that their argument is both invalid and false. Contrary to their inference, a binomial distribution may result when equal and counterbalancing measures of Poisson and Lexis …
Further Support for the Hypothesis That Parental Hormone Levels Around the Time of Conception Are Associated With Human Sex Ratios at Birth
During the past year, data have been published on the offspring sex ratios of people diagnosed with toxoplasmosis, hepatitis B, and pre- and post-menopausal breast cancer. It is shown here how these offspring sex ratios constitute further support for the hypothesis that mammalian (including human) parental hormone concentrations around the time of conception partially control the sexes of the resulting infants. If this interpretation were correct…
Two Hypotheses on the Causes of Male Homosexuality and Paedophilia
This note considers two hypotheses on the causes of homosexuality and paedophilia in men, viz. the hypotheses of maternal immunity and of postnatal learning. According to the maternal immune hypothesis, there is progressive immunization of some mothers to male-specific antigens by each succeeding male fetus, and there are concomitantly increasing effects of anti-male antibodies on the sexual differentiation of the brain in each succeeding male fe…
Biological and Psychosocial Determinants of Male and Female Human Sexual Orientation
some propositions on male and female sexual orientation will be considered. some of these are established; others are more speculative. the aim is to offer some notes towards a coherent, comprehensive theory of sexual orientation. 1. the distinction between butch and femme lesbians seems real rather than a social construct. 2. high levels of prenatal steroid hormones seem to be causally associated with the sexual orientation of butch lesbians. ho…
The Sexual Orientation of Men Who Were Brought Up in Gay or Lesbian Households
Elsewhere the author has suggested that adolescent and adult male homosexual orientation is, in some cases, causally associated with sexual or quasi-sexual experience in childhood (James, 2004). Here it is argued that the available data on men raised by same-sex parents cannot validly be interpreted as supporting or refuting this suggestion.
A Further Note on the Causes of the Fraternal Birth Order Effect in Male Homosexuality
I have recently written: ‘there seem likely to be causes common to male homosexuality and paedophilia. They may include sexual (or quasi-sexual) experience in childhood or adolescence’ (James, 2004). These words are rather vague and I wish to clarify them here.
The Cause(s) of the Fraternal Birth Order Effect in Male Homosexuality
It has been established that the probability that a man is homosexual is positively related to his number of older brothers, but not older sisters when the brothers are accounted for. This is known as the ‘fraternal birth order’ effect. In the past, efforts have been made to explain this phenomenon in terms of several alternative biological hypotheses and a psychosocial hypothesis. This note examines how well these hypotheses accommodate the frat…
On the Adaptively Biassed Offspring Sex Ratios of Hungarian Gypsies
Sex ratio at birth, latitude, hormones, and temperature
Editor,—Grech et al 1 reported that sex ratio (proportion male) at birth declines highly significantly with increase in geographical latitude in Europe. I offered evidence that this may be attributable to variation of maternal hormone levels with latitude.2Grech,3 while acknowledging this possibility, proposes that the effect with latitude may be secondary to an effect with temperature. Accordingly he writes : “an interesting study would be the a…
Sex ratio at birth and latitude
Editor,—Grech et al 1 report that sex ratio (proportion male) at birth declines highly significantly with increase in geographical latitude in Europe. They wonder if this is an effect of temperature variation. This may be so, but I suggest that variations in maternal hormone levels are a proximate cause. The reason for suggesting this is as follows
Infertility Treatment and Multiple Birth Rates in Britain 1938-94. A Comment
Murphy et al. (1997) showed age-standardised twinning rates for Scotland and England & Wales 1952–94. The rates declined to a value of about 9·2 per 1000 around 1978–81 and subsequently increased to about 11·5 per 1000 in 1992–94. The authors conclude their paper with the words: 'perhaps 15% of twins nationally now follow treatment and the natural twinning rate might still be in decline'.
The Validity of Infrereces of Sex-Selective Infanticide, Abortion and Neglect from Unusual Reported Sex Ratios at Birth
Martin's treatment of the human sex ratio at birth
On Sex-Selective Infanticide and Sex Ratio at Birth in the Inuit
Coital rates, sex-selective infanticide, and sex ratios at birth
The author of this short article comments on the suggestion by Brewis and Underwood, in their report on Micronesia, that the high sex ratios at birth were due to the high coital rates (greater than 108-110). First, in Australia, the reported sex ratio of births conceived in the first month of marriage from 1908 to 1967 was 109. Mean reported marital coital rates during the first month of marriage for the United States and England are estimated to…
The honeymoon effect on marital coitus
To investigate the rate of the decline of marital coital rates with duration of marriage longitudinal recorded data abstracted from diaries and calendars kept by 21 couples were examined. A substantial decline in coital rates during the first year of marriage, at least in couples who had no premarital intercourse, was found. Coital rates were only about half as high after a year of marriage as they were in the first month of marriage. Thereafter,…
The Will to Believe, and other Essays in Popular Philosophy
The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life
The causes of the decline in fecundability with age
Demographers have frequently suggested that women's fecundability reaches a maximum some time in their twenties and thereafter remains at a plateau for some years. Recent work by Bendel and Hua (1978) reinforces the author's previously expressed suspicion that this theory is incorrect. The present note is an effort to synthesize current knowledge about the variation with age of the reproductive parameters underlying fecundability. It is suggested…
The incidence of spontaneous abortion
Published data are reviewed and it is concluded that about one fertilized ovum in three perishes before pregnancy is recognised. Of those surviving until pregnancy is recognized, one in four or five perish before term. So spontaneous loss accounts for about one fertilized ovum in two in a medically advanced society
The effect of altitude on fertility in Andean countries
In papers previously published in this journal J. M. Stycos and D. M. Heer have shown that fertility is lower in the economically underdeveloped Indian-speaking parts of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia than in the more prosperous Spanish-speaking parts. Stycos concluded that the reason for the fertility difference in Peru is the greater marital instability of the Indian speakers which decreased their total exposure to the risk of conception. Heer sugge…
Changing Sex Ratios
Marital coital rates, spouses' ages, family size and social class
Data were provided by 2 surveys on human sexual behavior. Variation of marital coital rate with each of four demographic variables (wife's age, husband's age, parity and social class) was analysed when the other three were held constant. The following results were obtained: 1. When social class and parity (number' of children) are held constant, coital rates decline more rapidly with husband's age than with wife's age. 2. When duration of marriag…
The reliability of the reporting of coital frequency∗
(1971). The reliability of the reporting of coital frequency. The Journal of Sex Research: Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 312-314
The fecundability of U.S. women
In this note I shall define fecundability as the probability that a non-pregnant woman will achieve a recognizable pregnancy during a month of exposure to risk
Parameters of the menstrual cycle and the efficiency of rhythm methods of contraception
Further evidence is presented which suggests that in the Ogino and Knaus 'rhythm' methods of contraception, the periods of prescribed abstinence are not appropriately centred round the best prediction of ovulation day. It is suggested that with a slight modification, a rhythm method previously described by the author is both more efficient and less demanding than Ogino's system. Theoretical failure rates of various rhythm methods are offered. The…
The Varieties of Religious Experience
Variation of the Probability of a Male Birth Within and between Sibships
Stansfield and Carlton [Human Biology 79:255-260 (2007)] reported that the distributions of the combinations of the sexes in human sibships are binomial. They inferred that the probabilities of male births are equal and independent within and across all sibships. Here I argue that their argument is both invalid and false. Contrary to their inference, a binomial distribution may result when equal and counterbalancing measures of Poisson and Lexis …
Sex ratio at birth and latitude
Editor,—Grech et al 1 report that sex ratio (proportion male) at birth declines highly significantly with increase in geographical latitude in Europe. They wonder if this is an effect of temperature variation. This may be so, but I suggest that variations in maternal hormone levels are a proximate cause. The reason for suggesting this is as follows
The Validity of Infrereces of Sex-Selective Infanticide, Abortion and Neglect from Unusual Reported Sex Ratios at Birth
Reproductive stopping rules and Lexian variation
The author comments on an article by Kazuo Yamaguchi that discusses a formal proof of quantifying male-preferring stopping rules in childbearing. His criticism focuses on the lack of adequate knowledge of Lexian variation in a specific macrodemographic method. A response by Yamaguchi is included (pp. 655-6). (ANNOTATION)
On the Magnitude of Variation in the Human Sex Ratio at Birth
Studies of Human Sex Ratios at Birth May Lead to the Understanding of Several Forms of Pathology
This article deals with the problem of the causes of the variation of sex ratio (proportion male) at birth. This problem is common to a number of areas in biology and medicine, for example, obstetrics, neurology/psychiatry, parasitology, virology, oncology, and teratology. It is established that there are significantly biased, but unexplained, sex ratios in each of these fields. Yet workers in them (with the possible exception of virology) have r…
On Sex-Selective Infanticide and Sex Ratio at Birth in the Inuit
Commentary
The length of the human fertile period
Estimates of the. length of the human fertile period (that interval within the menstrual cycle during which insemination is associated with a non-zero probability of conception) are necessarily indirect. Moreover, those estimates do not seem in close agreement with one another. For instance, it has been suggested that
Observations on the artifact hypothesis and Naylor's “sequential aspects of spontaneous abortion
The incidence of illegal abortion
Previous estimates of the incidence of illegal abortion in this country are reviewed. It is suggested that data examined by Goodhart imply that there were more (perhaps many more) than 60,000 illegal abortions in 1967. Estimates of the incidence of female sterilizing operations are reviewed. It is suggested that in this country each female sterilizing operation averts about one live birth or - where induced abortion is the alternative - one induc…
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy
La Pathologie des Emotions
The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life
Die Bewusste Beziehung zwischen Vorstellungen als Konstitutives Bewusstseinselement
La Pathologie des Emotions
Introduction to Philosophy
The Will to Believe, and other Essays in Popular Philosophy
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy
Human Immortality
Vii.—critical Notices
VII.—CRITICAL NOTICES Get access Personal Idealism: Philosophical Essays by Eight Members of the University of Oxford Edited by HENRY STURT. London and New York: Macmillan, 1902. 8vo, pp. ix., 393. Price 10s. WILLIAM JAMES WILLIAM JAMES Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Mind, Volume XII, Issue 1, 1903, Pages 93–97, https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/XII.1.93 Published: 01 January 1903
The Varieties of Religious Experience
The Problems of Philosophy
Pragmatism
Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.
The Meaning of Truth
Essays in Radical Empiricism
Essays in Radical Empiricism shows William concerned with ultimate reality and moving toward a metaphysical system. twelve essays originally appeared in journals between 1904 and 1906. himself collected them to illustrate what he called radical empiricism, but this volume was not published until 1912, two years after his death. Included are such seminal essays as Does Consciousness Exist? and World of Pure Experience. distinguished scholar and bi…
Memories and studies.
The James Family, including Selections from the Writings of Henry James, Senior, William, Henry & Alice James
Parameters of the menstrual cycle and the efficiency of rhythm methods of contraception
Further evidence is presented which suggests that in the Ogino and Knaus 'rhythm' methods of contraception, the periods of prescribed abstinence are not appropriately centred round the best prediction of ovulation day. It is suggested that with a slight modification, a rhythm method previously described by the author is both more efficient and less demanding than Ogino's system. Theoretical failure rates of various rhythm methods are offered. The…
The effect of altitude on fertility in Andean countries
In papers previously published in this journal J. M. Stycos and D. M. Heer have shown that fertility is lower in the economically underdeveloped Indian-speaking parts of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia than in the more prosperous Spanish-speaking parts. Stycos concluded that the reason for the fertility difference in Peru is the greater marital instability of the Indian speakers which decreased their total exposure to the risk of conception. Heer sugge…
The Mathematics of the menstrual cycle
Attempts have been made to rebut criticisms by Professor Potter of a rhythm method of contraception described by the author. There is a correlation between the lengths of adjacent cycles within the menstrual histories of some women
The causes of induced abortion
In drawing conclusions about the causes of induced abortion, Treffers (Population Studies 20, pp. 295ff) assumed that spontaneous abortion is unrelated to psychological and sociological variables. It is suggested that these assumptions may be false. Some remarks are appended on the mode of ascertainment of abortions and its relation to their estimated incidence
The incidence of spontaneous abortion
Published data are reviewed and it is concluded that about one fertilized ovum in three perishes before pregnancy is recognised. Of those surviving until pregnancy is recognized, one in four or five perish before term. So spontaneous loss accounts for about one fertilized ovum in two in a medically advanced society
The distribution of coitus within the human intermenstruum
Daily records are the only acceptable basis for determining human coital rates. A re-analysis of such data presented by earlier writers and a study of new data suggest that within the intermenstruum (viz. the days on which there is no bleeding) the rate of coitus is highest immediately after menstruation ceases, declines thereafter and is lowest (within the intermenstruum) just before menstruation recurs. It is not clear whether there is a minor …
The reliability of the reporting of coital frequency∗
(1971). The reliability of the reporting of coital frequency. The Journal of Sex Research: Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 312-314
The incidence of illegal abortion
Previous estimates of the incidence of illegal abortion in this country are reviewed. It is suggested that data examined by Goodhart imply that there were more (perhaps many more) than 60,000 illegal abortions in 1967. Estimates of the incidence of female sterilizing operations are reviewed. It is suggested that in this country each female sterilizing operation averts about one live birth or - where induced abortion is the alternative - one induc…
Cycle day of ovulation
The length of the post-ovulatory phase in a composite sample of menstrual cycles increases linearly with cycle length until cycle length reaches about 30 days, but thereafter it ceases to increase (Vollman, 1953; Bailey & Marshall, 1970). By contrast, plotted against the mean cycle length of the individual, the length of the post-ovulatory phase continues to increase roughly linearly with mean cycle length. It is concluded (a) that many long cycl…
Secular changes in dizygotic twinning rates
In Australia, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland there was a substantial decline in dizygotic twinning rates during the 1960s. In Portugal, Spain and Japan there was a lesser decline and in the US there was little change. In many of the countries for which evidence is available, it seems that these declines all started at about the same time in the late 1950s. It has been sug…
Demography (58 works) · Sociology (53 works) · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences (41 works) · Population (41 works) · Psychology (33 works) · Medicine (31 works) · Biology (30 works) · Pregnancy (25 works) · Sex ratio (20 works) · Demography (19 works)