The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy collects ten essays in which James defends the rationality of religious and moral faith against the positivist demand that belief must always await sufficient empirical evidence. The title essay argues that in "genuine options" — live, forced, and momentous choices — it is not only permissible but sometimes obligatory to let our passional nature decide: to wait for certainty is itself a choice, and one that may foreclose goods achievable only through committed belief. The companion essays explore the sentiment of rationality, the dilemma of determinism and free will, the grounds of moral obligation, the role of great individuals in history, and the evidence for psychical phenomena. Together they form James's most sustained defence of the right to believe — a defence grounded not in fideism but in a careful analysis of the logic of belief and the nature of options. Written with James's characteristic verve and philosophical precision, these essays remain among the most important statements of the pragmatist philosophy of religion.
10 chapters · Public domain
1
The Will to Believe
~45 min · 22 pages
›2
Is Life Worth Living?
~46 min · 23 pages
›3
The Sentiment of Rationality
~72 min · 35 pages
›4
Reflex Action and Theism
~50 min · 25 pages
›5
The Dilemma of Determinism
~60 min · 30 pages
›6
The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life
~46 min · 22 pages
›7
Great Men and Their Environment
~57 min · 28 pages
›8
The Importance of Individuals
~10 min · 5 pages
›9
On Some Hegelisms
~55 min · 26 pages
›10
What Psychical Research Has Accomplished
~61 min · 29 pages
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