I've got to agree, Nestor. Whoever said that apparently had only a veneer-thin understanding of what existentialism is.
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Existence: What the fuck is going on?
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 "A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence." — David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
 (March 28, 2015 at 4:29 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: http://ajburger.homestead.com/files/book.htmI have that essay in a compilation of his earlier work, but I haven't read it yet. I have, however, read all of his writings from 1902 until his death (1910), and that's a rather simplistic understanding of his philosophy. I recommend you read A Pluralistic Universe or The Varieties of Religious Experience for a fuller understanding of his views. Keep in mind he was a "radical empiricist." And this statement, I'm sorry to say, is just dumb: "The Will to Believe" is one of his most popular essays, I think the world would be a better place if William James had never been born." Aside from being an innovative philosopher, he was also one of most important figures in the development of psychology.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal RE: Existence: What the fuck is going on?
March 30, 2015 at 2:50 am
(This post was last modified: March 30, 2015 at 2:51 am by Mudhammam.)
Nice. James also, as far as I understand, only advocated "the will" or "the right" to believe in instances where the intellect cannot decide which option is more correct (I don't agree here anyway, btw), and while I haven't read his lecture specifically concerned with "the moral life," I'm pretty sure he wouldn't include an act of murder in the class of propositions of which we have insufficient data to determine its value or correctness, or lack thereof.
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
RE: Existence: What the fuck is going on?
March 30, 2015 at 2:53 am
(This post was last modified: March 30, 2015 at 2:54 am by Pizza.)
I think James' point was people have the right to believe whatever they wanted in cases that haven't and wouldn't be solved. Like believing you're not a brain in a vat even if you and "experts" can't prove it so because nobody can.
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal  Quote:Given that "The Will to Believe" is one of his most popular essays, I think the world would be a better place if William James had never been born. FTR, William James was one of the founding fathers of modern psychology. Gee, some views here can get a little too extreme ...  RE: Existence: What the fuck is going on?
March 30, 2015 at 8:51 am
(This post was last modified: March 30, 2015 at 8:52 am by bennyboy.)
As I recall, James was a subjectivist-- he felt the best way to understand the mind was to examine one's own flow of consciousness. This would place him as pretty woo by scientific standards, but pretty high in my book. I'd place him at a diametric opposite to B.F.Skinner, in which the mechanism of mind is irrelevant so long as you can figure out how to manipulate the external behaviors of an organism (or person).
Not quite since he was a functionalist. He just thought you couldn't hand wave away consciousness like behavioralists did.
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal (March 30, 2015 at 2:50 am)Nestor Wrote: Nice. James also, as far as I understand, only advocated "the will" or "the right" to believe in instances where the intellect cannot decide which option is more correct (I don't agree here anyway, btw), and while I haven't read his lecture specifically concerned with "the moral life," I'm pretty sure he wouldn't include an act of murder in the class of propositions of which we have insufficient data to determine its value or correctness, or lack thereof. You need to read the essays at the link. His position most certainly does lead to the potential to believe things that lead to murder. Indeed, the whole point of his essay "The Will to Believe" is to allow people to believe in Christianity, even with no evidence. And, as everyone knows who has any knowledge of the history of Christianity, people have killed each other over such things, based on the beliefs that they had on faith. Read the essays, and you will see. "A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence." — David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
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