What William James thinks about optimism
American philosopher and psychologist (1842 to 1910); studied at Harvard; author of The Principles of Psychology (1890), The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) and Pragmatism (1907).
William James did not write this page.
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5 dated positions, c. 1879–1896 to c. 1906–1907, in their own words. Our reading of what William James has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingPragmatism must lean toward meliorism, since some conditions of the world's salvation already exist
Their wordsIt is clear that pragmatism must incline towards meliorism. Some conditions of the world's salvation are actually extant, and she cannot possibly close her eyes to this fact: and should the residual conditions come, salvation would become an accomplished reality.
↗Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsBut it breaks down impotently as soon as melancholy comes; and even though one be quite free from melancholy one's self, there is no doubt that healthy-mindedness is inadequate as a philosophical doctrine, because the evil facts which it refuses positively to account for are a genuine portion of reality; and they may after all be the best key to life's significance, and possibly the only openers of our eyes to the deepest levels of truth.
↗The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThere are, then, cases where a fact cannot come at all unless a preliminary faith exists in its coming.
↗The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1879-1896)gutenberg.org All 19 from this book
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Their wordsBelieve that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.
↗The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1879-1896)gutenberg.org All 19 from this book
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Their wordsAnd if I still wish to think of the world as a totality, it lets me feel that a world with a chance in it of being altogether good, even if the chance never come to pass, is better than a world with no such chance at all.
↗The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1879-1896)gutenberg.org All 19 from this book