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William James<= /p>

Fri= day, April 18, 2008

10:= 34 AM

  1. Background:
    1. One of the founders of the American Philosophical movement known as pragmatism, which is both a theory of truth and a m= eans for settling philosophical disputes, particularly metaphysical disput= es.
  2. Pragmatism
    1. Close to being a brand of empiricism that differs notably from British empiricists (like Hume).
      1. Called "The New Empiricism" for a while.=
      2. Many of the criticism= s of Hume's impression/idea system come from Pragmatism.
      3. James still holds out= for the possibility of a god
    1. A primarily American movement.
  3. To decide what a statem= ent means, one needs to look at the difference that believing in it and ac= ting on it makes.
    1. If I believe this to be true, what are the consequences?  If there are = no consequences, who cares?
    2. Sometimes a statement = can become true in the sense that it works for us and aids us, and in the sense that it is consistent with other useful beliefs already obtained.  (Useful isn't alw= ays pleasant)
  4. Pragmatism is used by J= ames to settle metaphysical disputes, which might have otherwise proven to = be interminable- am I free?  Am I material or spiritual?  The q= uestion of God, etc.
    1. The pragmatist responds by tracing the practical consequences of believing (i.e. Freedom):
      1. What difference does it make to believe that I am free?
    1. If no practical difference can be found, argument a= bout freedom is useless.
    2. The some may be said f= or theories.  Theories proposit= ions, beliefs are to be judged based on their consistency and the usefulnes= s- they may or may not be true.  But whether or not it is true, the beliefs must remain self-consistency.<= /span>
  5. Consider the larger que= stion of fatalism or determinism and see how James would handle it.
    1. Question not resolved by science
    2. But we experience regret.  How can this be exp= lained?
    3. If determinism is true= , then judgments like regret are nonsensical.
    4. It's most useful to be= lieve in indeterminism- lest you get things like the court case that tried = to argue that it was an inevitability that a murderer became a murder through a determinist point of view.
      1. Are you a determinist?  Then I say I'm determined to believe I'm free.
  6. Pragmatists on God:
    1. There are three choices that are easily noticed: ig= nore the question (refrain from believing either way), believe in God, rej= ect that belief.
    2. Choices in any hypothe= sis:
      1. living/dead- Living means that both choices are possible ones.  A dead choi= ce is one where one of the choices isn't 'live'.
      2. forced/unforced-  Forced means that you must choose.  Not choosing one m= eans choosing the other.  Unforc= ed would be that you could avoid choosing altogether.  I.E.  Given the choice "You either have to go with your umbrel= la or without it," there is still the choice of not going at all, = and so the choice is unforced.
      3. momentous/trivial-  A choice is momentous if it wou= ld be the only similar opportunity for such a choice given to you.<= /li>
      4. Example:  You can believe God is living, = forced, and momentous.
    1. When this happens, a passional decision is required= .
    2. We have a passional na= ture: this nature may not only be lawfully decided, but must choose an opti= on between propositions, whenever it is an option that cannot be decided= on intellectual grounds.  Not-d= eciding is odd here, since that is attended with the same risk as deciding-no= t- losing the truth.
    3. Cases of going beyond = the evidence?
    4. Finally, it is likely = that James thought that choosing to believe in God would lead to greater experience, although God cannot be rationally demonstrated.  So belief in God is the better pragmatic choice.

 

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