William James and "The Will to Believe"

This flashcard set covers the key vocabulary and concepts from William James' lecture on 'The Will to Believe,' including definitions of hypotheses, options, pragmatism, and his critique of W.K. Clifford's ethics of belief.

William James

Identified as America's most important philosopher and the author of "The Will to Believe."

Hypothesis

Anything that is proposed to be an object of belief.

Live Hypothesis

A proposal that represents a real possibility for someone and moves the thinker to potentially act.

Dead Hypothesis

A proposal that does not move the thinker and corresponds to no real possibility for them.

Liveness

A quality of a hypothesis defined by the “willingness to act irrevocably.”

Forced Option

A choice between two hypotheses where there is no possibility of avoiding making a choice.

Avoidable Option

A choice where one can abstain from choosing or refute the argument, such as deciding whether or not to bring an umbrella.

Momentous Option

A choice involving a unique opportunity or high stakes where the decision is significant and not common.

Trivial Option

A choice where the decision is common, unremarkable, and involves low stakes.

Genuine Option

An option that is simultaneous live, momentous, and forced.

Voluntary Belief

The concept questioning whether one can simply decide to believe something through an act of will.

Pascal's Wager

Blaise Pascal’s approach to religious belief, weighing the infinite rewards of believing in God against the risks of non-belief.

W.K. Clifford

Author of “The Ethics of Belief” who argued it is immoral to form unsupported beliefs and we should only believe that for which we have sufficient evidence.

Passional Nature

The non-intellectual side of human nature—including needs, drives, and feelings—that influences thinking and decides beliefs when the intellect cannot settle a question.

James’ Empiricism

A view focused on human fallibility and pragmatism that explicitly rejects sense-data theories like those in Principles of Psychology.

The Cogito

Refers to “cogito ergo sum”; James view is that this is an experience of a moment of consciousness, not evidence of a permanent “self.”

Pragmatism (James' definition)

A name for regarding that which fits into our practical lives as true; the more a belief fits the “whole drift of experience,” the truer it is.

Pragmatic Truth of Evolution

The theory is considered true because it undergirds biology, gene therapy, and medical science, fitting our collective experience as a whole.

The Laws of Thought

Two dictates identified by James: $1$) believe truth! and $2$) shun error!

The Religious Hypothesis

The affirmation that the best things are eternal and that we are better off even now if we believe this affirmation.

Thou vs. It

The shift in perspective where the universe is no longer a mere “it,” but is personalized as a “thou” with meaning and purpose.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

A concept used to test the limits of the will to believe; for most, it is not a live hypothesis but a joke not resolved by textual evidence.

Logical Truth Example

Beliefs so intertwined with our lives they are beyond doubt, such as $p = p$ or the fact that the word ‘word’ has $4$ letters.

3 Spheres of Life

Aesthetic, religious, and ethical

Aesthetic

particular/individual; life guided by desire, please, self-concern

Religious

we subordinate the universal to the SINGLE individual, despite
the fact that the individual is not higher than the universal.

Ethical

universals, rules/norms, social world, language, mutual
intelligibility

Paradox of Fate

the idea that true faith requires believing something that seems irrational or contradictory

Knight of Faith (Abraham)

Represents absolute faith in God, even when it defies ethics and reason

Example: Abraham willing to sacrifice his son because God commands it.

Tragic Hero (Agamemnon)

Represents someone who sacrifices for the greater good, but still within ethics.

Example: Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter to ensure victory in war

Teleological suspension of the Ethical

A concept introduced by Kierkegaard that implies a suspension of ethical laws in favor of a higher, divine purpose guided by faith. Infinite resignation

Infinite resignation

A state of acceptance and surrender to the loss of something deeply desired, allowing a person to transcend personal wants for a higher meaning or purpose.