The Will To Believe Summary

According to James in his book “The Will To Believe” he appointed the name hypothesis to anything that can be added to our belief. James classifies hypothesis as either alive or dead. He similarly compares his hypothesis of “electricians speak of live and dead wires, let us speak of any hypothesis as either live or dead” (James, 2008) In James’s message, he tells us that a live wire (hypothesis) in one which is appealing for the individual is an actual possibility. James’s classification of a dead wire (hypothesis) is if the idea is not appealing, if it does not appear to be a real idea, or lacks believability to the individual. James explains this live/dead wire to be hypothesis through the introduction of eastern religion to westerner beliefs. James explains that the idea will probably not be appealing and since it lacks appeal it would be considered dead hypothesis to the individual. James provides three separate, but different options when determining between
James was telling us that if you choose not to believe after you have passed, there might be consequences. If you have chosen not to believe and follow God and God is real then you might be eternally damned. On the other side of the argument, if God is not real and you die, you have lost everything. James, unlike Clifford believed that matters of the heard were the exceptions to Clifford’s argument of having evidence to support a belief in God. James did acknowledge that the evidence that Clifford put forward was sound. James again, unlike Clifford did not believe that all beliefs of an intellectual nature had to be supported by empirical data. In review, in both essays it is clear they both believed that the evidence to support the existence of God was weak; however, disagreed on the rationale of religion and if in any case it was responsible to support the position of religious