William James 18421910, The Will to Believe

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William James (1842-1910), The Will to Believe

• Pragmatism the view that the meaning of a
  doctrine is the same as the practical effects of
  adopting it in other words, a belief is true if
  it works
• The whole defense of religious faith hangs upon
  action. (p. 360, n. 37)

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Background The Ethics of Belief by W. K.
Clifford (1845-1879)

• that delicious enfant terrible
• Everyonewhether politician, philosopher, poet,
  rustic, or housewifehas a universal duty to
  question all that we believe. (p. 370)
• To sum up it is wrong always, everywhere, and
  for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient
  evidence. (p. 372)
• James finds the pathos expressed here to be
  fantastic and cannot follow Clifford (see pp. 347
  353).

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The Will to Believe Technical Terms

• 1. Hypothesis anything that may be proposed to
  our belief
• a. live appeals as a real possibility
• b. dead not a real possibility
• 2. Option decision between two hypotheses
• a. living (or dead) both hypotheses are live
• b. forced (or avoidable) no possibility of not
  choosing
• c. momentous (or trivial) significant and unique
• d. genuine living, forced, and momentous
• 3. Different kinds of Options
• Scientific
• Moral
• Interpersonal
• Religious

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Jamess Position

• a defense of our right to adopt a believing
  attitude in religious matters (p. 344)
• Jamess Thesis Passion must decide a genuine
  option that cannot be decided on intellectual
  grounds (p. 349)
• The Religious Hypothesis
• (1) The best things in life are eternal
• (2) Were better off now if we believe 1
• (3) Personal relation with gods

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Conclusion

• Against pure intellectualism, which would be
  irrational if it prevented us from acquiring the
  truth. (p. 358)
• Provided that religion is a live hypothesis,
  calculate the possibilities and we can see that
  the will to believe is the rational way to go.

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The Wager by Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
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Jamess Wager
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• What do you think about Jamess text? How would
  you critically evaluate it?