The American philosopher William Ernest Hocking (1873-1966) related idealism and pragmatism in an Absolute Idealism grounded in human experience.

William Ernest Hocking was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1873. After work as a surveyor, "printer's devil," map maker, and illustrator he entered Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1894, intending to become an engineer. A chance reading of William James' Principles of Psychology determined him to go to Harvard to study with James. He spent four years--first as a teacher of business mathematics, then as a public school principal--before the funds were in hand to enter Harvard in the fall of 1899. He managed a trip to the Paris Exposition in 1900 by hiring on as a cattleman. He received his A.M. degree from Harvard the following year.

Hocking spent 1902-1903 studying in Germany at Göttingen, Berlin, and Heidelberg. He was the first American student to...