William James' The Will to Believe: Faith, Reason, and Religion

Introduction and Purpose

William James' defense of belief and faith marked the central purpose of his lecture entitled The Will to Believe. This philosophical treatise is introduced and then developed across ten major sections in order to explain his position. Ultimately, James' case for belief defends religion and faith as necessary, even if irrational, modes of understanding. The purpose of this essay is to explore James' work and explain his conception of the relationships between such subjective ideas as faith, belief, rationality, and reality. This exploration proceeds by examining each section of James' lecture and highlighting the arguments that relate to his characterization and eventual defense of religion and faithful attitudes.

In his introduction, James relates the importance of his work to the subjective nature of his audience. The audience is composed of Ivy League university students who are members of a philosophy club. The lecture took place shortly before June 1896, when it was published. James sets up his lecture by challenging his audience to open their minds to the less intellectual tendencies of the mind and to incorporate irrationality as a positive source of motivation.

Core Premises: Defining Belief and Choice

In order to understand James' arguments, one must first understand his basic premises. These premises are outlined in the lecture's first section, where he defines his terms and establishes the themes of the lecture. The terms "belief," "choice," "will," and "practicality" — all extremely subjective by nature — are given objective form by James. This necessary step of providing conceptual boundaries allows his viewpoint to be contextualized rather than dissolving into meaningless jargon.

James declared that the binary mindsets of good and bad are brought about by hypotheses. These forks in the road, according to James, can be reduced to three basic approaches. He suggested that decision-making is either "living or dead," "forced or avoidable," or "momentous or trivial." Examples of each are given to help the reader recognize their unique traits. The living-or-dead distinction holds that decisions are made when life is or is not breathed into an argument. The forced-or-avoidable distinction suggests that every decision is ultimately unavoidable and that compulsion is attributed to the will. The third distinction suggests that the scope of importance is a true impetus for willful action. All of these arguments compose the premises for his understanding of the irrational choice of belief manifested as faith.

In the second section, James continues to build his argument by establishing other conditions necessary to understand his proposition. This section centers on the idea of belief, its origins, and its components. James suggests that belief is not a chosen attribute; rather, it stems from an unspeakable force of nature.

Origins of Belief, Pascal's Wager, and Authority

James uses Pascal's wager as a counterpoint to his own stance. He explains that Pascal was a proponent of faith and belief, though the origins of Pascal's faith came from the individual. James points out that his views differ from Pascal's not on the idea of faith itself, but rather on its source. James clearly explains in this section that faith is not a voluntary action. He asserts this claim by suggesting that we cannot will ourselves to believe what we know to be false. In other words, truth is not a function of the will; the will is merely a contributing component of the broader idea.

In the third section, James continues to build toward his main argument by examining how relationships affect decision-making. James argues that all ideas and conscious choices are shaped by the ideas of others. He introduces authority and the emotional effects of its exercise as important factors in determining how individuals decide. This emotional and subjective influence that comes from authority figures demonstrates how belief and conviction are non-intellectual by nature. The human need to be appreciated and loved is, according to James, irrational — and this supports his claim that intellectual processes and scientific methods fall short of grasping the true complexity of human decision-making.

In Section 4, James states his central claim in a single passage: "Our passional nature not only lawfully may, but must, decide an option between propositions, whenever it is a genuine option that cannot by its nature be decided on intellectual grounds; for to say, under such circumstances, 'Do not decide, but leave the question open,' is itself a passional decision — just like deciding yes or no — and is attended with the same risk of losing the truth." In other words, our passions override our intellectual processes at all times. This relationship between passion and faith is what James regarded as the ultimate expression of humanity.