...Beliefs William A. Bruno Southern New Hampshire University William.Bruno@snhu.edu Either people believe there is a God, don’t believe in God or they are on the fence about whether or not God exists. It doesn’t matter what your position because no matter where you go there will always be somebody to tell you you’re wrong for what you believe in. During the next few paragraphs I will discuss a few different philosopher’s ideas by talking about the side of the fence, if either, they fall into and their views about the other side. The three philosophers I will talk about are Blaise Pascal, W.K. Clifford, and William James and their views on the whole believing in God thing. Blaise Pascal was for the idea of believing in God. Pascal’s thought were that “having a belief in God was useful even if not supported by the available evidence (Pascal).” His theory basically stated that if “someone fully devoted their life to the ways of Christianity they would soon believe what Christians believe” (Pascal). I personally don’t like this idea because I feel that this is, basically, brainwashing yourself. The next philosopher William James had theory that was along the same line as Pascal’s. He thought if people had the options between two really appealing choices the people have the right to act as their passion decides (James, 1896).” James thought it was pointless for us to permit the fear of holding a false belief to prevent us from losing the benefits of believing what...
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...To completely understand how William James got his start in Psychology, I think must first start with his father. William's father, Henry James Sr., was 1 of 13 children. His parents were Irish immigrants. Henry inherited wealth from his father before his own children were even born. When William was born, Henry and his wife Mary lived in New York City. There, Henry studied theology, philosophy, and mysticism. William James was born in New York City on January 11, 1842, to a deeply religious family. Henry often took the family for extended stays in Europe. He was a very devoted father. He wanted his children to have the sort of education so they might out-do others in knowledge. He enrolled them in fine schools, hired them gifted tutors, and made sure they went to museums, attended lectures, and the theater with regularity. William and two of his siblings would follow their father's educational efforts. His brother Henry became one of America's most famed novelists, and his sister Alice also acquired a literary reputation of her own after her diaries were published. Mary James complained of William that "The trouble with him is that he must express every fluctuation of feeling, and especially every unfavorable symptom, without reference to the effect upon those about him." It seems this introduction to the great philosopher and psychologist William James. It is also appropriate, his was life a reconsideration of spirituality and consciousness in relation to physiology and neuroscience...
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...What is an emotion? William James and Jean-Paul Sartre present two different arguments regarding what constitutes an emotion. This paper will explore William James’ analysis of emotion as set out in his 1884 essay . It will attempt to discover the main points of his view, and then present Sartre’s rebuttal of this view taken from his essay on emotions . Concluding with an explanation regarding why Sartre’s account is flawed and James’s argument is the stronger of the two, it will use outside examples to demonstrate the various weaknesses and strengths within the two perspectives. William James analysis of emotion revolves around his theory that an emotion is nothing more than the senses and feelings we experience in our bodies that come about after we perceive something. He says that “ … the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion”. He gives several premises to back up this theory. First of all, that if you were to take away the bodily changes and senses that we associate with an emotion that you would have nothing left of the emotion. He refers to the state of fear and how there would be no emotion left, if the feelings of “… quickened heart-beats nor of shallow breathing…” were taken away. It would simple be a state of being, as opposed to an emotional state. Presenting an emotion with out the bodily changes that are associated with it is, as James states, is “… inconceivable...
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...Megan Morrone Sigmund Freud and William James on Religion Intro to Philosophy Final May 3, 2013 The Will to Believe, an essay by William James, is a defense of religious faith in the absence of convincing logical facts or scientific evidence. James focuses on reasoning and choice in reference to the basis of belief. To James, when reasoning it is a necessity to recognize other considerations apart from those in which the evidence points to. If truth is the primary focus of our beliefs, sometimes it may necessary to take the risk of believing without solid evidence. Moreover, he clarifies that, although we sometimes have a choice in what we believe, there are many beliefs that we cannot will. James views faith in God as falling short of knowledge because we, as humans do not naturally experience the supernatural. However, he also explains that, such faith is sensibly meaningful to many people, and it is reasonable to wonder how, and to what extent it can be justified. James believes that both logic and science have limits beyond which we can legitimately seek rationality. James discusses genuine choice and stresses the three criteria for genuine choice; the choice must be live, forced, and momentous. In other words, personally meaningful, mutually exclusive and presented with an option and/or answer, and must involve potentially important consequences. James defines religion broadly, as having simply two elements, the first being that the best things are eternal, and second...
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...History without context is little more than the recitation of unrelated events, and history without specific events is little more than a fanciful narrative; therefore, history exists as an interrelated duality between specific events and context. It is through the eyeglass of this apparent duality that the great accomplishments of science come firmly into view and the haziness of opinion and speculation are carried out of focus. Accordingly, Mary Whiton Calkins's life and research is best understood within the context of her upbringing and the zeitgeist of the time towards women, within the framework of self observation, the method of natural science, and associationism; and as the original thinker behind paired-associate learning and the partial resolution of the structuralism/functionalism controversy. Mary Calkins was 57 years-old before she was legally able to vote in the United States of America. Up until the early 20th century the role of woman was universally agree to be exclusively as a wife, mother, and caretaker for the elderly in the family (Goodwin, 2005). In fact, it was widely agreed that any intellectual pursuit beyond primary school could be physically harmful to women. However, by the time Calkins was 25 she was fluent in English, German, French, and Greek; well-traveled and well-read, and a graduate of Smith College in western Massachusetts. Mary Calkins was the eldest of five siblings and the daughter of a Congregationalist minister. The friction between...
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...PERSPECTIVES BY Kurt StuKe The Unending Search Transformation in quality as a ‘thing in the making’ RECENTLY, STEPHEN K. Hacker wrote that “many of our organizations remain mired in their current states, frozen in old mindsets.” To free our organizations and 1 What follows is a contrast of the current grammar and its tacit assumptions concerning knowing, being and meaning to a different grammar born in the experiential-based philosophy of William James. The difference between grammars and the importance of the difference in the reconstruction of transformation and quality is explored. knower and thing known is usually referred to as the subject or object split within philosophy. The self or knower within such a vision is always distinct and apart from the world. The essential rationality and immutability of knowing and being within the traditional mindset lends itself to quantitative methods and statistical tools. You can progress safely through the define, measure, analyze, improve and control cycle—or choose not to—because the universe as defined through the traditional grammar is inherently knowable and predictable. You can differentiate between common cause and special-cause variation, and, by extension, processes that are in control and out of control because of the assumed stability within knowing, being and meaning. Language and meaning within these horizons also are based in antecedent truths. If you have the correct name of a thing, you have insight into...
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... | | | | | |By Rev. David F. Austin | |3/6/2012 | |Pragmatism - an American movement in philosophy founded by C. S. Peirce and William James and marked by the doctrines that the meaning of | |conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings, that the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is preeminently to be| |tested by the practical consequences of belief. | 1 Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice. Important positions characteristic of pragmatism include instrumentalism, radical empiricism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, a denial of...
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...A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.[note 1] Many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that aim to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people may derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world.[1] Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion as "the belief in spiritual beings".[26] He argued, back in 1871, that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies. The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a "system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."[27] Alluding perhaps to Tylor's "deeper motive", Geertz remarked that "we have very little idea of how, in empirical terms, this particular miracle is...
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...Smith College. Due to her sister’s illness and death caused her to study at home for the following year. However she went back to the Smith University in 1885, and graduated with a double major in classics and philosophy. Later on the year, the Calkins family went to Europe and Mary studied Greek at the University of Leipzig. After she returned to the States, she was asked to teach Greek at the Wellesley College. She had been teaching Greek for about a year, when offered a position teaching psychology. Unfortunately, she struggled tremendously. There were few places for women to work or even graduate in psychology (Bumb,n.d). Calkins was invited to sit-in on William James and Josiah Royce lectures on a strictly casual basis at the Harvard University. On October 1, 1980 Calkins was allowed to attend the seminars of James and Royce but had to accept the terms that she was only allowed to be admitted as a guest and not allowed to become a student of the University. (Bumb,n.d). In 1895 she returned to Wellesley College where she got the opportunity to be an Associate Professor of Psychology and later was promoted to a Professor. She wrote four books, Including, An...
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...Smith College. Due to her sister’s illness and death caused her to study at home for the following year. However she went back to the Smith University in 1885, and graduated with a double major in classics and philosophy. Later on the year, the Calkins family went to Europe and Mary studied Greek at the University of Leipzig. After she returned to the States, she was asked to teach Greek at the Wellesley College. She had been teaching Greek for about a year, when offered a position teaching psychology. Unfortunately, she struggled tremendously. There were few places for women to work or even graduate in psychology (Bumb,n.d). Calkins was invited to sit-in on William James and Josiah Royce lectures on a strictly casual basis at the Harvard University. On October 1, 1980 Calkins was allowed to attend the seminars of James and Royce but had to accept the terms that she was only allowed to be admitted as a guest and not allowed to become a student of the University. (Bumb,n.d). In 1895 she returned to Wellesley College where she got the opportunity to be an Associate Professor of Psychology and later was promoted to a Professor. She wrote four books, Including, An...
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...PSY / 310 | Mary Whiton Calkins | Women In Psychology Paper | | Danielle R. Berg | 5/18/2014 | Select a woman who has made significant contributions to the field of psychology between the years 1850 and 1950. Obtain faculty approval of your selection prior to beginning this assignment. Prepare a 1,400- to 1,750-word paper in which you describe her background, theoretical perspective, and contributions to the field of psychology. | Mary Whiton Calkins was born on March, 30, 1863 to a Presbyterian Minister during a time when oppression of women would be stout during her growing up transitioning into adulthood. She overcame her own struggles and closed doors in regards to her schooling and succeeded in becoming the first female president of the American Psychological Association, but not without a supreme amount of perseverance. During the 19th century, women were thought to be inferior to men, not only physically but intellectually as well. Women could study on their own, but to be included in class as a student rather than a "guest" was next to impossible. Where men thought that education could cause harm to women, the actuality of it was that an educated woman could cause 'harm' to that belief. Mary Whiton Calkins would show the world that her place existed next to the greatness of any male peer within Psychology as she began her own story into the world. Thankfully her parents encouraged her to thrive towards education and overcoming the inferior stereotyping...
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...Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930) was a great American philosopher and psychologist of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Mary Whiton Calkins was born on March 30th, 1863 in the city of Hartford in Connecticut. Mary was the eldest of five other siblings. Her father was Presbyterian minister named Wolcott Calkins. Mary’s family was close knit; Mary was especially close to her mother. In 1880 at the age of seventeen, Mary relocated to Newton, Massachusetts. Her family constructed a new home in Newton and Mary would actually live out the rest of her life in that home. Her father, aware of the substandard education available to women of that time period took it upon himself to educate Mary himself. In 1882 through the education Mary received from her father she was able to gain acceptance into Smith College with an advanced standing as a sophomore. In the year 1883 tragedy struck Mary’s life with the death of her sister Maude. The death of Maude permanently changed Mary’s thinking and her character. She dropped out of Smith College the following year and took private lessons at home. In the autumn of 1884 Mary reentered Smith College as a senior and graduated with a degree in philosophy with a concentration in classics. In the year 1886 Mary and her family traveled to Europe for 16 months. In Europe Mary expanded her knowledge of classic philosophy. When Mary returned to Massachusetts he father arranged a meeting for her to meet the President of Wellesley College, Wellesley...
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...Shadae Childress 11/20/14 Book Review LDSP 395 The Metaphysical Club Beliefs, facts, and theories all play a part in our society. What we think is right and what we think is wrong can be different from somebody else’s views just because of the way they may interpret it or the way they may look at it. Religion itself directs certain individuals to a path that says that God is the reason for everything while scientists may disagree with such findings because of the facts that they have reached over time. Then you have the theories that you cannot really prove true but it does not mean that it is wrong. “The Metaphysical Club” is a book that may even cause you to question what you believe by the end of the book. It took place around the time of the Civil War and involved philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, and idealists. It describes the life of four intellectuals who share their views on how they feel about things and how they perceive the world. These individuals somehow link back to Harvard and have something in common. They all are thinkers. These fours thinkers are Charles Pierce, William James, Oliver Holmes Jr., and John Dewey. Each one of these individuals had their own exploration of ideas and shared them to one another to either agree or disagree on how to define modern American Life. They formed a club called, “The Metaphysical Club.” “The Metaphysical Club” based a lot of their discoveries and beliefs and built them into a category called pragmatism....
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...in 1884 with a degree in philosophy and Greek studies, however Mary didn’t end her education there. Naturally Mary attempted to attain a job revolving around her degree, which she landed at the Wellesley College as a tutor in the Greek department. Her successes shined as a tutor for three years all the way through to a fellow colleague who offers Calkins an opportunity to expand into the psychology. Terms of advancement were for Mary to study Psychology for a year and in turn be able to teach it for the department at Wellesley. Mary had many reputable schools to have chose from to attend as a student for her second go around of studies however ended up as guest sit in student to Harvard University in lectures given by Josiah Royce and William James. Living in an era where women did have some opportunities those did not extend to women being registered students at Harvard. In her studies Calkins battled Harvard for her well-earned degree after completed all requirements at doctorate status yet failed in getting the Harvard institution to grant her such degree solely based on her sex. Although she may not have the degree itself Calkins is widely accepted as the first female to have earned a doctoral degree in the field of psychology and awarded through the University of Columbia in 1909 with Doctors of letters and in 1910 by the Smith College a Doctor of...
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...Sima & Sabah Religion has been successful in its response to psychology’s challenges to religious belief.’ Assess this claim (15 marks) June 2011 One of the key ways religion challenges Freud’s claims successfully is due to the fact his theory was based on Darwin’s speculations and assumptions which may have not been necessarily true. This theory was written at a time where no reliable data was available and so this meant that the idea of the primal horde was not criticised at the time. For example, not all tribes had totem animals. This suggests that Freud’s idea that guilt was handed down from generation to generation is incorrect. Therefore, one could argue that Freud was wrong to suggest that religion is based on guilt. This therefore supports the claim that religion was successful in its response to psychology’s challenges. However, many argue that Freud was immensely intelligent. His work had greatly influenced the western understanding of the mind. Therefore his assumption that religion was based on guilt was understandable to many people. Hence the reason why Freud’s strengths lie in the fact that many could relate to his ideas about religion and psychology in their own lives. This therefore goes against the statement that religion has been successful in its response to psychology. Another way in which religion successfully challenges Freud’s claims is the fact Freud suggest that guilt is passed down from generation to generation. Religion challenges this by...
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