The Religious Dimension of Individual Immortality in the Thinking of William James

Abstract

William James states "Immortality is one of the great spiritual needs of man," yet the arguments presented in his LECTURE ON IMMORTALITY, while interesting and ingenious, are somewhat less than conclusive in proving that human beings can survive bodily death.Therefore I attempt to clarity the notion of "individual survivor" through an analysis and discussion of various approaches to the problem, before returning to a further examination of James' thought in the "Final Impressions of a Psychical Researcher," the THEORY OF THE SOUL, the PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY, the VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE and a PLURALISTIC UNIVERSE.James' often neglected Christian position provides the key to a better understanding of his thought on the topic, and allows me to conclude on a cautiously optimistic note on the possibility of a philosophical proof for human survival."Human immortality is one of the great spiritual needs of man."With this simple sentence, William James seems not only to capture precisely the importance of the subject, but also to hint at some of its underlying problems.Why is immortality a "great spiritual need of man"?The prospect of mere bodily resurrection somehow does not move us as deeply.Most of us could contemplate without unbearable distress, the possibility of a different body.However, the possibility of a sizeable diminution of brainpower, the threat of brainwashing, the chance of becoming retarded, and the like fill us with fear.It seems incredible that my mind, my soul, whatever one may call the entity I know as my self, should disappear without a trace.Why? Our physical being is a given, controlled by the same laws that control the rest of the world of things we see around us; our sentient faculty, in contrast, appears much more amenable to the will, which forms an integral part of it.We