The will to believe

William James : pragmatism and belief

William James ' lecture The Will to Believe defends the notion of belief without the necessary presence of evidence in determining its truth and validity . The lecture also provides an understanding of James philosophical and religious views on radical empiricism and pragmatism as he attempts to combine both frameworks in ascertaining the truthfulness of beliefs with regard to the notions of empiricism However , James ' arguments are solely limited on the concept of belief morality , and the concept of God rather than determining the existence of God itself

. The process in which he attributes his paradigmatic framework is on the notion of belief and its relationship with empiricism wherein the latter primarily derives its truth from evidence based on observation . Belief in this sense is understood metaphysically that is , an outlook without the necessity of evidence (e .g . faith James uses the notion of hypothesis as a necessary proponent of belief wherein this may also be understood in its empirical sense . In the terms of James ' view , empiricism is highly concerned with fact whereas hypothesis is liable to change which depends on future observation and investigation

Live and dead Hypothesis

James first begins with a definition of hypothesis as an object that may be proposed with belief ' He separates the notion into two : a live hypothesis is one which appeals as a real possibility to him to whom it is proposed ' and a dead hypothesis is the complete opposite of the first . The distinction of a live...