William James The Will To Believe Summary

William James’ “The Will to Believe”

William James wrote "The Will to Believe," an argument about the foundation of belief. James argued the notions of “genuine option” and “forced belief”. He claimed that each of us has options to believe; but some facts are forced beliefs. William James explained “religious hypotheses” and the notion of faith without cause.
In order to understand James’ theory we must first understand his language through which he explains his view. James defines hypothesis as an idea that is given as a probable belief. “Let us give the name of hypothesis to anything that may be proposed to our belief.” James believes that each situation may support one of the two hypotheses one being a “live hypothesis” is a proposal that is factual, and we are likely to believe, however a “dead hypothesis” is a proposal that is very difficult or impossible for us to believe.

He explains that an option can be in many forms such as “living or dead, forced, or avoidable, and momentous or trivial”. A “living option” is a decision between two living hypotheses; a “dead option”, however, is a choice between two options that one of them is most likely dead. A” forced option” is a choice that we are forced to make, on the other had there are some decisions that we can avoid making which James calls “avoidable option”. James writes that when a “stakes are significant” one’s option becomes momentous, however when a decision can be undone it becomes a “trivial option”. Ultimately, James creates his most important option of all, an option that is live, forced, and momentous is a “genuine