Robert J. O'Connell
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823217274
- eISBN:
- 9780823284962
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823217274.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
This chapter argues that, contrary to what has been almost universally supposed, William James did not mean to affirm that humans' passional nature should intervene in the formation of their ...
More
This chapter argues that, contrary to what has been almost universally supposed, William James did not mean to affirm that humans' passional nature should intervene in the formation of their over-beliefs onlyafter their dispassionate intellects have failed to resolve the issues one way or the other. The fact of the matter is that, early and late, James consistently taught that the passional or volitional side de facto exercises a precursive influence on all such intellectual surveys, and that it would be idly asking for the psychologically impossible to insist on the reverse scenario. James clearly held that the “will” to believe exerts its influence before, during, and after the formation of humans' over-beliefs, directing, influencing, and virtually commanding all such surveys.Less
This chapter argues that, contrary to what has been almost universally supposed, William James did not mean to affirm that humans' passional nature should intervene in the formation of their over-beliefs onlyafter their dispassionate intellects have failed to resolve the issues one way or the other. The fact of the matter is that, early and late, James consistently taught that the passional or volitional side de facto exercises a precursive influence on all such intellectual surveys, and that it would be idly asking for the psychologically impossible to insist on the reverse scenario. James clearly held that the “will” to believe exerts its influence before, during, and after the formation of humans' over-beliefs, directing, influencing, and virtually commanding all such surveys.
Robert J. O'Connell
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823217274
- eISBN:
- 9780823284962
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823217274.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
This chapter explores what William James has written about the various strata of the passional, and suggests ways in which his central thesis can be salvaged from the shipwreck of epistemological ...
More
This chapter explores what William James has written about the various strata of the passional, and suggests ways in which his central thesis can be salvaged from the shipwreck of epistemological irresponsibility. James points out that, between one person and another, there are varieties of the passional nature: there are different temperaments, mental tempers, emotional constitutions, and they guide the “whole man” to “insist upon being spoken to by the universe” in some particular key. These differences in people's individual passional natures, in other words, prod them toward different attributions of interest and importance, and therefore toward different over-beliefs.Less
This chapter explores what William James has written about the various strata of the passional, and suggests ways in which his central thesis can be salvaged from the shipwreck of epistemological irresponsibility. James points out that, between one person and another, there are varieties of the passional nature: there are different temperaments, mental tempers, emotional constitutions, and they guide the “whole man” to “insist upon being spoken to by the universe” in some particular key. These differences in people's individual passional natures, in other words, prod them toward different attributions of interest and importance, and therefore toward different over-beliefs.
