It would be an understatement to say that William James was open-minded with regard to metaphysics and religion. It would be an even bigger understatement to say that William James was an opponent of absolutism. In light of the former, the latter is quite significant. In treating the concept of the Divine, James rejects on principle the God of scholastic theism. He even goes as far as to call the theological God a “metaphysical monster” and “an absolutely worthless invention of the scholarly mind” (The Varieties of Religious Experience, p.401). These are strong words coming from the author of such an open-minded work as “The Varieties of Religious Experience.” The fact that the above quotations are from that very same work is even more shocking. Why – for someone who took the time to examine multitudes of religious and philosophical mindsets on their own terms – would a particular metaphysical world view be so repugnant? The answer lies in his method. Read more...
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1 comment:
The good thing about fighting against the God of the theologians is that it won't fight back. If it did, it would be reacting to something, and would thus be passable and temporal. Oops!
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