Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
The Will to Believe : And Other Essays in Popular Philosophy - William James

The Will to Believe

And Other Essays in Popular Philosophy

By: William James

Paperback | 20 March 2014

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $63.95

$61.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $15.44 with

 or 

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

For this 1897 publication, the American philosopher William James (1842 1910) brought together ten essays, some of which were originally talks given to Ivy League societies. Accessible to a broader audience, these non-technical essays illustrate the author's pragmatic approach to belief and morality, arguing for faith and action in spite of uncertainty. James thought his audiences suffered 'paralysis of their native capacity for faith' while awaiting scientific grounds for belief. His response consisted in an attitude of 'radical empiricism', which deals practically rather than ideologically with real-world phenomena. When facing a 'momentous' decision about belief, he says, we both can and must choose the best hypothesis. The first four essays apply this principle to religious faith, and the rest explore the pragmatic approach to such topics as determinism, ethics and individual achievement. James developed his ideas further in The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) and Pragmatism (1907), both of which are reissued in this series."

More in Philosophy

Beginning to Live : The Art of Existential Freedom - Emmy van Deurzen
The I Ching or Book of Changes : Bollingen Series - Cary F. Baynes

RRP $39.99

$33.75

16%
OFF
Captive Minds : A Study of Manipulation - Avishai Margalit

RRP $51.95

$40.75

22%
OFF
Winnie-the-Pooh : The Little Book of Wisdom - A. A. Milne

RRP $19.99

$14.99

25%
OFF
Lunacy : Ten False Promises of the New Space Age - Ben Bramble

RRP $34.99

$29.99

14%
OFF
First Knowledges Politics : Philosophical Ordering by Country - Morgan James Brigg
On the Shortness of Life : The Stoic Classic - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

RRP $24.95

$21.75

13%
OFF
The Beginning Comes After the End : Notes on a World of Change - Rebecca Solnit
Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching - Ursula K. Le Guin

RRP $37.99

$30.75

19%
OFF
The Golden Road : How Ancient India Transformed the World - William Dalrymple
Nineteen Eighty-Four : Collins Classics - George Orwell

RRP $9.99

$7.99

20%
OFF
On Bullshit : Anniversary Edition - Harry G. Frankfurt

RRP $19.99

$18.75

The Creative Act : A Way of Being - Rick Rubin

RRP $55.00

$42.75

22%
OFF
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse - Charlie Mackesy

RRP $45.00

$35.75

21%
OFF