Philosophy 1600 - Honors Seminar

 

Topic 1: Faith, Rationality, and the Ethics of Belief

William James's "TheWill to Believe"

William James (1842-1910). Essay reprinted from The Will to Believe (1897)

1. James's Basic Thesis

"Our passional nature not only lawfully may, but must, decide an option between propositions, whenever it is a genuine option that cannot be its nature be decided on intellectual grounds; for to say, under such circumstances, 'Do not decide, but leave the question open', is itself a passional decision - just like deciding yes or no -- and is attended with the same risk of losing the truth. . . ."

2. Some Central Ideas in James's Discussion

(1) Distinctions With Respect to Options

(a) Living versus dead options.

(b) Forced versus avoidable options

(c) Momentous versus trivial options

(d) A genuine option is one that is living, forced, and momentous.

(2) Belief and our Non-Intellectual Nature

(a) Prior versus posterior "passional tendencies and volitions."

(b) Posterior non-intellectual tendencies and volitions are ineffective.

(c) Prior non-intellectual tendencies and volitions, on the other hand, often play a crucial role in shaping our beliefs.

(d) The latter is not merely a psychological fact about us. On the contrary, it is a perfectly legitimate, and unavoidable, phenomenon. (Basic thesis stated above.)

(3) Two Different Principles Concerning our Duty in the Matter of Belief

(a) One principle is: "Have true beliefs".

(b) A very different principle is: "Avoid false beliefs".

Comment
James put the former in a way that is inaccurate, given his subsequent discussion: "We must know the truth". Deciding to believe something on the basis of insufficient evidence may result in true belief, but it cannot result in justified belief, or knowledge.