"Will to Believe" - читать интересную книгу автора (James William)

called? Because they think, as a leading biologist, now
dead, once said to me, that even if such a thing were true,
scientists ought to band together to keep it suppressed and
concealed. It would undo the uniformity of Nature and all
sorts of other things without which scientists cannot carry
on their pursuits. But if this very man had been shown
something which as a scientist he might with telepathy,
he might not only have examined the evidence, but even have
found it good enough. This very law which the logicians
would impose upon us -- if I may give the name of logicians
to those who would rule out our willing nature here -- is
based on nothing but their own natural wish to exclude all
elements form which they, in their professional quality of
logicians, can find no use.

Evidently, then, our non-intellectual nature does
influence our convictions. There are passional tendencies
and volitions which run before and others which come after
belief, and it is only the latter that are too late for the
fair; and they are not too late when the previous passional
work has been already in their own direction. Pascal's
argument, instead of being powerless, then seems a regular
clincher, and is the last stroke needed to make our faith in
masses and holy water complete. The state of things is
evidently far from simple; and pure insight and logic,

whatever they might do ideally, are not the only things that
really do produce our creeds.

4. Thesis of the Essay. Our next duty, having
recognized this mixed-up state of affairs, is to ask whether
it be simply reprehensible and pathological, or whether, on
the contrary, we must treat it as a normal element in making
up our minds. The thesis I defend is, briefly stated, this:
decide an o option between propositions, whenever it is a
genuine option that cannot by its nature be decided on
intellectual grounds ; for to say, under such circumstances,
" Do not decide, but leave the question open," is itself a
passional decision, -- just like deciding yes or no, -- and
is attended with the same risk of losing the truth.> The
thesis thus abstractly expressed will, I trust, soon become
quite clear. But I must first indulge in a bit more of
preliminary work.

5. Empiricism and Absolutism. It will be observed that
for the purposes of this discussion we are on 'dogmatic '
ground, -- ground, I mean, which leaves systematic
philosophical skepticism altogether out of account. The
postulate that there is truth, and that it is the destiny of
our minds to attain it, we are deliberately resolving to

1234567891011121314151617181920