William James
Religious experiences are psychological facts to be studied seriously, and belief can be a legitimate venture.
Life
William James (1842-1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist, professor at Harvard and a major figure of pragmatism. He judged ideas by their effects in experience, studied religious experience seriously, and defended, under certain conditions, the right to believe without decisive proof. He matters for debates on God, faith and truth.
Main works
Studies religious experiences as psychological facts and assesses their fruits.
Defends the right to believe when the option is live, forced and momentous and reason cannot decide.
Defines the meaning and truth of an idea by its practical consequences.
A founding treatise of modern psychology, including the analysis of the "stream of consciousness".
In his own words
« Our passional nature not only lawfully may, but must, decide an option between propositions, whenever it is a genuine option that cannot by its nature be decided on intellectual grounds »
« The truest scientific hypothesis is that which, as we say, 'works' best; and it can be no otherwise with religious hypotheses. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe finds belief in a higher power a live and rewarding option, but pictures a finite God working with us rather than an all-powerful one.
James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) ; A Pluralistic Universe (1909)
Knowledge rests on experience, including the relations between things, which we also experience (radical empiricism).
James, Essays in Radical Empiricism (1912)
Our beliefs are fallible and judged by their results; absolute certainty is not on offer.
James, Pragmatism (1907)
Chance and real alternatives exist: the future is not fixed, and we can truly choose.
James, "The Dilemma of Determinism" (1884)
The good is whatever satisfies the most demands of the most beings.
James, "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life" (1891)
When evidence cannot settle a live, momentous choice, we may rightly let our needs and hopes decide.
James, "The Will to Believe" (1896)