The Will to Believe

by William James

Overview

"The Will to Believe" is a lecture by William James, first published in 1896, which defends, in certain cases, the adoption of a belief without prior evidence of its truth. In particular, James is concerned in this lecture about defending the rationality of religious faith even lacking sufficient evidence of religious truth. James states in his introduction: "I have brought with me tonight [...] an essay in justification of faith, a defense of our right to adopt a believing attitude in religious matters, in spite of the fact that our merely logical intellect may not have been coerced. 'The Will to Believe,' accordingly, is the title of my paper."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783963765612
Publisher:	Aeterna Classics
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	201
File size:	470 KB

About the Author

Frederick Burkhardt, formerly a professor of philosophy and then a college president, is President Emeritus of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Fredson Bowers is Linden Kent Professor of English, Emeritus, at the University of Virginia.

Ignas K. Skrupskelis is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction by Edward H. Madden

The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy

Index

Notes

A Note on the Editorial Method