Bøger af William James

The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature *is a book by the Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James comprising 20 lectures given at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. These lectures concerned the nature of religion and the neglect of science, in James' view, in the academic study of religion. Soon after its publication, the book found its way into the canon of psychology and philosophy, and has remained in print for over a century. James was most interested in direct religious experiences. Theology and the organizational aspects of religion were of secondary interest. He believed that religious experiences were simply human experiences: "Religious happiness is happiness. Religious trance is trance." He believed that religious experiences can have "morbid origins" in brain pathology and can be irrational but nevertheless are largely positive. Get Your Copy Now.

I have long defended to my own students the lawfulness of voluntarily adopted faith; but as soon as they have got well imbued with the logical spirit, they have as a rule refused to admit my contention to be lawful philosophically, even though in point of fact they were personally all the time chock-full of some faith or other themselves.I am all the while, however, so profoundly convinced that my own position is correct, that your invitation has seemed to me a good occasion to make my statements more clear. Perhaps your minds will be more open than those with which I have hitherto had to deal.I will be as little technical as I can, though I must begin by setting up some technical distinctions that will help us in the end.From the ForwardGet Your Copy Now.