Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Developing the Spiritual Inclination (All)

For those of you all that are more inclined to a spiritual metaphysics, consider integrating what the pragmatist William James had to say about "The Will to Believe" into section four of your Final Research Project (FRP). In this respect, pragmatism (an American philosophy) and/or the interventions of James can be utilized as the feature philosophy or philosopher in the last section of section four of your FRP.

Negotiating the latter thoughts can be useful on at least two levels: (1) you can potentially better "ground" your spiritual beliefs philosophically, and (2) you can add value to your arguments in section four of your FRP. As such, feel encouraged to take a look at the following resources:

On Pragmatism

1. For a nice introduction on the emergence of pragmatism, see Louis Menand's webcast discussing his text The Metaphysical Club, at the Library of Congress.
2. For what James wrote about Pragmatism, read the text "What Pragmatism Means"(scroll down).

On Matters of the Spirit

Note: The Key Documents!!!

1. For a very useful text, arguing for the value of belief, see "The Will to Believe" by James.
2. For a compelling outline of "The Will to Believe," see the outline of professor Bob Corbett, by clicking "here."

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