William James

William James, who lived from 1842 to 1910, was an American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist. He was the son of William James and the grandson of Henry James, Sr., an American Swedenborgian theologian. His maternal lineage includes Catharine Barber, from whom Ellen King James, his mother, was descended, and Ellen King James was married to Smith Thompson Van Buren, the son of President Martin Van Buren. William James's family background includes notable figures in American intellectual and political history.