James on Immortality 1 William James’ Pragmatism

Transcript:James on Immortality 1 William James’ Pragmatism:
James on Immortality 1 William James’ Pragmatism James quotes "It is but giving your little private convulsive self a rest, and finding that a greater Self is there.." "Evil is a disease; and worry over disease is itself an additional form of disease, which only adds to the original complaint." "Sobriety diminishes, discriminates and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes." "[O]ur normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different." "There is a stream, a succession of states, or waves, or fields ... of knowledge, of feeling, of desire, of deliberation, etc., that constantly pass and repass, and that constitute our inner life." "Feeling is the deeper source of religion." James’ Life, Education Jan. 11, 1842, New York, N.Y., U.S.--d. Aug. 26, 1910 Father follows unorthodox Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg 67-8 James studies art, medicine (MD), natural science with Hermann von Helmholtz, who formulated the law of the conservation of energy; with Claude Bernard, the foremost experimentalist of 19th-century medicine Breakdown and Recovery Suicidal depression, breakdown 68-72 Recovery connected to reading Kantian philosopher Charles Renouvier: on free will His decision that "my first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.“ Attributes his depression (melancholy) to scientific determinism = “pragmatic” (psychological) approach to ideas and anti-scientism 1 Psychology: Ideas are real Psychological function of philosophical ideas Certain ideas appeal to certain “temperaments” Taught physiology at Harvard Developed program in physiological psychology New approach to psychology as an experimental laboratory science: first in US First major work: Principles of Psychology 1891 Psychophysics James established the functional point of view in psychology. It assimilated mental science to the biological disciplines and treated thinking and knowledge as instruments in the struggle to live. -- Compare to Nietzsche 2 Empirical Study of Religion James leaves experimental psychology for focus on philosophy dealing with the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, free will and determinism, the values of life, Treats these as empirical topics: religious experience for the nature of God psychical research for survival after death to fields of belief and action for free will and determinism Varieties of Religious Experience Major work of 1902 the varieties of religious experience point to the existence of specific and various reservoirs of