3,094 research outputs found
A critical comparison of William James and Søren Kierkegaard on religious belief
This thesis is a critical comparison of the accounts of religious belief proposed byWilliam James and Søren Kierkegaard. Both James and Kierkegaard greatly emphasizethe subjective aspects of religious belief. In view of this fact, surprisingly littlecomparative work has been done in this area. I contribute to this literature in two ways.Firstly, I make a brief assessment of what James knew of Kierkegaard’s work.Secondly, I draw four comparisons between Kierkegaard and James. In Chapter One Iexamine the claim that Kierkegaard proposes a pragmatist account of faith of the kindthat James sets out in his essay The Will To Believe. I argue that this claim rests on amisunderstanding of Kierkegaard’s argument that to have faith is to take a risk. In thefollowing chapter I discuss James’s and Kierkegaard’s views on formal proofs for theexistence of God. Both philosophers reject the notion that faith can be based on suchproofs. I distinguish between their positions, and argue in favour of Kierkegaard’s. Inthe third chapter I compare Kierkegaard’s and James’s accounts of religious experience.James views religious experiences as a special kind of evidence for the existence ofGod. For Kierkegaard it is a mistake to view religious experiences as evidence. Suchexperiences should be understood in relation to the concept of religious authority. In thefinal chapter I examine Kierkegaard’s conception of faith as a life-view. I argue that forKierkegaard a life-view is a fundamental perspective on one’s existence. I compare thisconception with James’s concept of philosophical temperament and in relation to hisdiscussion of the sick soul
James T. McIntye to Senator James O. Eastland, 24 May 1978
Typed letter signed dated 24 May 1978 from James T. McIntyre, Jr., Director of the Office of Management & Budget, to Eastland, re: 3 May letter on P.L. 480, Title I.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/joecorr_h/1011/thumbnail.jp
Routes of the Missouri river, Illinois river, and northern lakes, with descriptions of towns, general features of the country, statistics, tables of distances, &c. &c. (From "James' travelers' companion" and "James' rail road and route book".)
1 p.l., 158-185, [2] p
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