Analysis Of William James's Article 'The Will To Believe'

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William James in his article, “The Will to Believe” criticized Clifford’s views that suggested that when forming an opinion, one should never go beyond his or her logic. James believes that human reasoning sometimes have to utilize other considerations apart from the available evidence. If our main goal is to have beliefs that are true as opposed to merely avoiding errors, then people should be able to believe without necessarily having to follow the evidence. James applies this to some areas in life, and he comes to discuss his alleged relevance of his view on religious belief in the last section of the article ( 'William James In Focus: Willing To Believe ').
The main thesis of James revolves in his argument that sometimes it is not ethical …show more content…

The choice of utilizing any of the two intellectual maxima, if it is not decided in regard to intellectual grounds, it becomes more pronounced ethically. As much as we may constantly take risks in personal lives, a belief that lacks evidence always has a lot of uncertainties some of which may harbor negative consequences in our lives. James does not fully address the question whether the belief should at any time be voluntary. It has always been considered dubious that we may opt to have some beliefs willingly and make the whole conception of James’s will to believe mistaken. However, the pragmatist conception of James seems to create a room for such adoption of beliefs at will. If there exist no contradicting scenarios in our lives, in cases where there is insufficient evidence to the contrary, it is expected that we follow a certain rule of action even if we are unsure of the consequences that may befall us and without the certainty of our course of action. Doubting welcomes experimentation with a hope that our actions will be able to yield the expected and best results in cases where we choose to act without regard to the evidence ( 'William James In Focus: Willing To Believe …show more content…

By pragmatic definition, if people follow the rule of conduct in all cases and circumstances, they would be accepting the will to believe. Consequently, we should all believe that our current conduct and actions have a direct translation to what we expect in future depending on the current situation. In James’s most sustained and longest discussions, he does not fully contest evidence. The truth that is harbored by the religious hypothesis is only a matter of time to decide. Unless a religious belief postulates to yield something different about the world, they all amount to the same belief about actual situations that people encounter in their daily

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