William James and his strive for purpose at rock bottom-Final Project SSHM Chapter 2

 What is free will…? Throughout history, people have wondered about this concept. People ask questions such as "Do we make choices, or are we conditioned to do so?" or "Are we here for a reason, or is it meaningless?" These are some of the questions that kept William James from being content with his purpose. Throughout his life, he constantly questioned free will and whether there was a point in this existence. James constantly reckoned with persistent existential disillusionment during his life. At the time when he was on the scene of philosophy, many were in an age of optimism. Other philosophers were on the verge of finding newfound enlightenment whilst he was wallowing in self-identity.

James knew many intelligent people during his time who could feel no joy due to these questions. On page number (#42) in "Sick Souls Healthy Minds" it states that "James, however, knew many intelligent people who thought optimism- and enlightenment for that matter-was a sham." He described many of these thinkers as being in a mental state he described as "anhedonia." Anhedonia is defined as the" inability to feel pleasure." Essentially, he's saying that these people philosophized themselves into depression. They had pondered so much about our purpose here that they lost their own sense of purpose, which led to James doing the same. 

    One of William James's contemporaries, Henry Adams, I suppose, is one of these "intelligent people" he's referring to. They had rather opposite views on human progress and optimism. Adams did a lot of writing about modernity and our place in our course of human progress. He argued that we've lost our sense of self in the modern age. He was a rather strong pessimist about purpose in life. In "Henry Adams & Modernity: A Philosophy of History for Our Times" further elaborates on Adams's pessimistic viewpoints: "Our inability to be aware of our own place in history has meant that we no longer understand or see any meaning in our existence and that we no longer try to find it." This viewpoint most definitely conflicted with James's later conclusions about free will and human purpose.

 Darwinism helped him reach his original conclusion on fate and free will. On page number (#43), he states, "There is no tooth in any one of those museum-skulls that did not daily through long years of the foretime hold fast to the body struggling in the despair of some fated living victim." Furthermore, this ties into the personal implication of Darwinism on human purpose. The weak will die, and the strong, given enough time, will become the weak and die just the same. On page (#43) James adds to this by saying that once people realize this about nature, this will "come home to us in stark relief."

    The "anhedonia" William James felt came to a halt on a boat ride he went on in the spring of 1870. He was on the Amazon River in this boat, which gave him a lot of time to think. During his travels, he described himself as somewhat "melancholic." He felt as if he had been affected by an extreme form of depression. During this boat ride he went to the writings of Renouvier's second essais. In Renouvier's writings, he covers free will in detail. He defines it as "the sustaining of thought because I choose to when I might have other thoughts." This struck a chord in William that had not been satisfied. In his writings, after reading this, he says, "I think that yesterday was a crisis in my life. I finished the first part of Renouvier’s second essais and saw no reason why his definition of free will— 'the sustaining of a thought because I choose to when I might have other thoughts' — need be the definition of an illusion. At any rate, I will assume for the present — until next year — that it is no illusion. My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will." To further elaborate on this, Renouvier argues that if free will doesn't exist, we still have control of our thoughts. We can control what we do and do not think about. Therefore, if free will doesn't exist, you can choose to simply believe it does. The world is chaotic, and we must find a way to control it. If we can't control it, we can choose how the situations thrown at us affect our consciousness. 

    William James describes this lost purpose as something similar to "Deadly Horror." On page number (#44), he describes it as "Yes, it can drive one to leap from a great height or hang oneself from the rafters." The moment someone hits rock bottom, it can create a sense of lost purpose. James argues that it requires a "radical shift" for someone to climb out of this depression. Many people who've decided to take their own life but have survived describe feeling an immense sense of remorse and pure dedication to survival once they jumped or went through with the decision. The author of "Sick Souls Healthy Minds" describes it as "Regret coupled with the almost frantic desire to live" and that once people make the decision to go through with suicide, they "find the courage to live only when their fate appears to be fully sealed." He compares his time on the boat to this act of being "reborn." He experienced complete melancholy but was able to change due to a radical shift in viewpoint.

    Overall, William James experienced a radical shift that lasted the rest of his life. Regardless of whether we have valid free will, we have control of our thoughts. Our minds are our reality, and they help shape how we interpret and act in our existence as human beings. William James chose to believe that free will exists, and that simply became his reality. He decided to change his mind, which may be the philosophical answer. If an idea about life is disheartening, why not simply believe it to not be credible? We have ultimate control over our brains.