William James: A Study in Human Nature
David B. Yaden, Andrew B. Newberg
The Varieties of Spiritual Experience October 15, 2022 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190665678.003.0002 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that William James's comfort with contradictions in his own life—artist turned scientist, skeptic drawn to spiritual feeling, physiologist who defended subjectivity—shaped his scientific approach to religious experience in The Varieties of Religious Experience, an approach the author contends still offers lessons. |
Abstract
Abstract: According to William James, to understand a person’s beliefs, then seek to learn more about that person’s temperament and life circumstances. Thus, this chapter focuses on the story of William James’s life and his influences to understand how he developed the worldview that he brought to The Varieties of Religious Experience. James’s life was in many ways a study in contrasts. He became a scientist, but trained first as an artist; he was a skeptic, but was fascinated by spiritual feelings; he hoped to understand mental states in terms of physiology, but he defended the inherent value of individual subjectivity; he taught physiology for years but always argued against simplistic reductionism. This familiarity with seeming contradictions may have enabled James to feel comfortable examining religious experience from a scientific perspective—an approach there is still much to learn from.