The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy

by William James

Publisher:

Longman

, 1897

Overview

Is life worth living? This question, the title of one of William James’ essays, is one James himself struggled with in his life and work. Trained as a doctor, James never practiced medicine. Perhaps due to his own struggles with depression and melancholy, he was drawn to philosophy and psychology. That interest turned into a serious academic career. Known as the father of American psychology, James is the founder of functional psychology and cofounder of the James-Lange Theory of Emotion. He also wrote an important work on the psychology of religious experience. James’ philosophical work forms some of the seminal thinking on pragmatism—the belief that usefulness, not truth, should be the focus of philosophical ideas.

In The Will to Believe, James argues for the validity of religious belief even in the absence of evidence. He argues that one cannot determine the evidence for certain belief until one has already adopted the belief. Part of James’ argument is that people are always faced with decisions and inevitably choose, even if that choice is not to decide at the moment. Some of these decisions cannot be made on intellectual grounds and thus must be made using the passions.

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Key Features

• Provides essays written for public consumption, as a means to test the validity of the ideas presented
• Includes multiple essays that introduce the reader to the ideas and philosophies of James
• Discusses religious belief in light of limited, to nonexistent, evidence for those beliefs

Contents

• The Will to Believe
• Is Life Worth Living?
• The Sentiment of Rationality
• Reflex Action and Theism
• The Dilemma of Determinism
• The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life
• Great Men and Their Environment
• The Importance of Individuals
• On Some Hegelisms
• What Psychical Research Has Accomplished

Product Details

• Title: The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy
• Author: William James
• Publisher: Longman
• Print Publication Date: 1897
• Logos Release Date: 2013
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Philosophy; Belief and doubt
• Resource ID: LLS:WILLBELIEVEJAMES
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:08:14Z

About William James

William James (1842–1910) was born at the Astor House in New York City. His father, Henry James Sr., was a Swedenborgian theologian. His godfather was poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. James studied science at Harvard University and enrolled in Harvard Medical School, earning an MD in 1869. In 1878, he married Alice Gibbens, and in 1882, he became a member of the theosophical society. James suffered various forms of depression throughout his life. Though he studied medicine, he was drawn to philosophy and psychology. He began writing on these subjects and eventually began teaching at Harvard. He held professorships of both philosophy and psychology, ending his career as emeritus professor of philosophy in 1907. Medical historians consider him the 14th most eminent psychologist of the twentieth century.