WOODS, James Haughton. Boston 27.11.1864 — Tokyo 14.1.1935. U.S. Indologist. Professor in Cambridge MA. Son of Joseph Wheeler Woods and Caroline Frances Fitz. Studies at Harvard (A.B. 1887) and Cambridge Theological Seminary. Further studies at Berlin in 1889-91, Oxford 1891 and Strassburg 1894-97. Ph.D. 1896 Strassburg. Teaching at Harvard: from 1891 Assistant in History, 1900 Lecturer in Philosophy, 1900-01 Instructor in Anthropology and 1903-08 in Philosophy, 1908-13 Assistant Professor in Philosophy. From 1913 Professor of Philosophy at Harvard, retired 1934. Visiting Professor in France in 1916-18 and 192?. Married 1907 Gertrude Baldwin (1870–1926), again 1927 Elizabeth Robinson (1890–1976).
Woods apparently became interested in eastern thought during his travels in India in 1902-03 (again in India and Japan in 1907-09). He wrote about Indian and Japanese religion and philosophy.
Publications: Diss. Erkenntnis-Theorie und Causalität. 1896.
– Translated Deussen’s Outline of Vedānta. 6+45 p. N.Y. 1906.
– Practice and Science of Religion: A Study of Method in Comparative Religion. 8+123 p. N.Y. 1906.
– Translated: The Yoga-system or the ancient Hindu doctrine of concentration of mind. Embracing the mnemonic rules, called Yoga-Sūtras, of Patañjali, and the comment, called Yoga-Bhāshya, attributed to Veda-Vyāsa, and the explanation, called Tattva-Vaiçāradī, of Vāchaspati-Miçra. 422 p. H.O.S. 17. Cambridge, Mass. 1914.
– “The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali as illustrated by the Comment entitled The Jewel’s Lustre or Maṇiprabhā”, JAOS 34, 1915, 1-114; “La théorie de la connaissance dans le système du yoga”, JA 11:11, 1918, 385-389.
– Edited with D. Kosambi: Papañca-Sūdanī. 1-2. L. PTS 1922-28 (Majjhimanikāya comm., vols. 3-5 by I. B. Horner).
– “Integration of consciousness in Buddhism”, Fs. Lanman 1929 (on VisM 7, 203).
– Works on Western philosophy, also on Japan.
Sources: Who Was Who in Am. 1; brief note in JAOS 55, 1935, 114; ealc.fas.harvard.edu/james-haughton-woods with portrait; parents in findagrave.com.