James, William. The Will to Believe and Human Immortality. New York: Dover Publications, 1956.

Abstract

This volume contains the complete texts of two books by William James, the great American psychologist and philosopher. Easy to understand, yet brilliant and penetrating, both books were written for the intelligent layman who is interested in philosophy and related fields. The Will to Believe contains ten sections, in which William James discusses, first, the interrelationship of belief, will, and intellect in human personality and human action. He examines such questions as: How does man believe? Just how greatly do intellectual considerations affect belief? Just how much do irrational elements affect even the most rigorously logical thought? Chance versus determinism, free will versus fate, pluralism versus monism are discussed in succeeding sections. James also provides stimulating discussions of psychical research and its scientific and philosophic implications, Hegelianism, and the philosophy of Spencer. Human Immortality, which is reprinted from the corrected second edition, examines the question of survival after death, and provides an unusual philosophical rebuttal to the theory that thought and personality necessarily die with the brain. These two classics are not sterile treatises on topics no longer pertinent, but are brilliantly and simply written discussions of great potential interest to laymen who are concerned with philosophy, philosophy of science, or the greater problem of adjustment between scientific certainty and emotional hope.