Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

James: Religious Belief is Legitimate and Compelling Psychologist William James believed that there are many areas of experience in which we must act in faith to achieve truth. James believes that skeptical demands for evidence are appropriate when analyzing and describing the physical world, but this is not the case in areas like creative scientific discovery, morality, human relationships, and religious beliefs. In these areas, to demand incontrovertible evidence before believing would condemn us to living in frightened ignorance, more terrified of making a mistake than discovering truths that go beyond air-tight logic. For James,, although our intellect and ability to think logically are powerful tools for understanding the world, they are not sufficient. He states that we also need to make full use of the abilities of our passion natures when attempting to make sense of and discover the truth in areas like morality, religion, and human relationships. There are three areas in which believing beyond evidence are the best course of action:

• When you are confronted with a genuine option that cannot be decided on evidential grounds, you have the right to decide the issue according to your passion nature.

• When faced with a situation where belief in a fact is necessary for the existence of that fact, you have the right to believe beyond the evidence.

• In a situation in which belief in a true proposition is necessary for getting at the evidence in support of its truth, you are entitled to believe.

In his essay The Will to Believe , James believed that Pascal’s wager tries to force us into Christianity by reasoning if our concern with the truth resembles our concern with the states in a game of chance. In evaluating the role of faith in forming beliefs, James observes, “Science says things are; morality says some things are better than other things; and religion says that the best things are the more eternal things and that we are better off even now if we believe the first affirmation to be true.” James believes that that it is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. Near the end of the essay, James states, “I therefore, for one, cannot see my way to accepting the agnostic rules for truth-seeking, or willfully agree to keep my willing nature out of the game. I cannot do so for this plain reason, that a rule of thinking which would absolutely prevent me from acknowledging certain kinds of truth if those kinds of truth were really there would be an irrational rule.” James disagrees strongly with Clifford’s criteria for belief, viewing it as excessively narrow and limiting; instead, James believes there are many areas of experience, including morality, religion, and human relationships in which our beliefs must go beyond the evidence.

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