William James
Pragmatic Voluntarism: ÒThe Will to BelieveÓ
I.
Basic Terminology of Pragmatic Voluntarism:
1. Live Hypothesis Ð a belief that appeals to the
hearer
2. Dead Hypothesis Ð a belief that does not appeal
to the hearer
1. Living/Dead
2. Forced/Avoidable
3. Momentous/Trivial
4. Genuine
Ð a living, forced, and momentous option
A. How we make decisions:
1. Rational
Ð many decisions can be made based on rational grounds appealing to É
a. Empirical evidence
b. Analytical evidence
2. Passional
Ð We can Will
to believe in cases where
a. a hypothesis is rationally indeterminable, and
b. we are presented with a genuine option
B. Options for Passional Decision Making:
1.Dead Option:
2. Live Option: