Is Life Worth Living? Thoughts from William James

 

Leah Knight #12

Background of William James

William James was an American psychologist and philosopher who lived from 1842-1910.

    James is one of the key founders of Psychology along with: Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, and Wilhelm Wundt.

    He also began the pragmatism movement along with Charles Sanders Peirce. This is a reminder that the meaning of pragmatism is an emphasis on the practical function of knowledge as an instrument for adapting to reality as we know it and controlling what we can. 

    William James wrote many things of note such as: The Principles of Psychology, The Will to Believe, and my focus for this post Is Life Worth Living?

"Is Life Worth Living?"

    William James presented this work as a lecture at Harvard in 1895. In which he makes the the argument that life is worth living and starts his argument with the objection against suicide.

 

    The quote above comes from Is Life Worth Living? and demonstrates that James wishes to help people who are contemplating suicide. However, above he admits that not everyone can be talked out of suicide and the reasoning that William James gives for life being worth it would be lost on someone thinking of suicide in a moment of deep sorrow. 

    James claims that those who are willing to hear his words and participate in critical thinking may turn against their suicidal thought in favor of the belief that life is still worth living.

    William James says that pessimism is the product of our desire to attribute the facts of life to the will of a higher power. However, humans have a contrasting observation of the facts themselves.

The two factors that William James gives in order to cure one's pessimism are:

    1. To ignore religious longing and deal with the facts themselves

    2. One may find supplementary facts that they believe in, permitting religious readings to continue

    There is much of the world that science cannot explain. For example, before it was common knowledge that the sun is the center of our galaxy rather than the Earth, scientists found different bits of information that was "proof" that the Earth was the center. This example helps us understand that based on our beliefs is how we react to and interpret the world around us. 

    Which was William James's main belief that life is what you make of it. If you believe life to be worth living than the actions you take will make it so. You will see the good in the world and believe that life can be a wonderful thing. Thus, leading me to James's pun response to the question, is life worth living? William James replies with it depends on the liver. 

 

    Personally, I like this outlook on life. When you believe that life is what you make it, that then puts responsibility on you to make your life better when you want change and reduces the victim mentality when life gets hard. William James starts off his book confident that he could convince someone out of a suicidal mindset if they are willing to have a real and thoughtful conversation. He could be confident when he was working to convince people that their life is their creation and they may be in a bad spot right now, but they have the ability to make it better.