A Study of William James' View on Ethics of Belief

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Ph.D. of Philosophy of Religion, University of Tehran, Pardis-e Farabi

Abstract

In this essay, we will sort out William James's arguments in his ‘The Will to Believe’. These arguments range from an argument against Clifford's model of evidentialism, an argument for the right to believe and an argument for the will to believe. There are two micro-level arguments, as well, that are the argument to have more true beliefs and the argument to have less false beliefs. James uses the two latter micro-level arguments for his three former macro-level arguments. The totality of the structure of his arguments rests on two foundations: credulity and the dispositional theory of belief. Without these two foundations, none of his arguments in his The Will to Believe work. They will be presented before delving into the discussions about James's arguments. James's arguments have an evidential model which is different from Clifford's model of evidentialism. Therefore, his arguments against Clifford's model should not be construed as against evidentialism tout court. At the end, certain corollaries of his arguments will be discussed

Keywords

References

[1] جیمز، ویلیام. 1370. پراگماتیسم. با ترجمه عبدالکریم رشیدیان. تهران: انتشارات آموزش انقلاب اسلامی.
[2] سرزعیم، علی. 1395. اقتصاد برای همه. تهران: انتشارات ترمه.
[3] شمس، منصور. 1387. آشنایی با معرفتشناسی. تهران: طرح نو.
[4] کشفی، عبدالرسول. 1387. "بررسی و نقد نظریه رفتارگرایی فلسفی". فصلنامه علمی-پژوهشی دانشگاه قم 9 (4): 27-46.
[5] Bishop, John. 2007. Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief . Oxford: CLARENDON PRESs.
[6] Chignell, Andrew. 2018. "The Ethics of Belief." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Spring 2018 Edition. Edited by Edward N. Zalta.
[7] Clifford, William Kingdon. 1879. Lecutres and Essays. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pollock. Vol. 1. London: Macmillan and Co.
[8] Hick, John. 1990. Philosophy of Religion. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: PRENTICE HALL.
[9] Hick, John. 1988. Faith and Reason . Macmillan Press.
[10] James, William. 1907. The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
[11] Kauber, Peter. 1974. "The Foundations of James's Ethics." The University of Chicago Press 84 (2): 151-166.
[12] Nathanson, Stephen L. 1982. "Nonevidential Reasons for Belief: A Jamsian View ." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 572-580.
[13] O'Connell, Robert. 1997. William James on the Courage to Believe . Fordham University Press.
[14] Palmer, Michael. 2001. The Question of God . Londoan and New York: Routledge.
[15] Plantinga, Alvin. 2000. Warranted Christian Belief . Oxford University Press.
[16] Russell, Bertrand. 1945. A History of Western Philosophy . New York: SIMON AND SCHUSTER.
 
 
Philosophy and Kalam
Volume 53, Issue 2
January 2021
Pages 483-461

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics