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- Title
Social Meliorism in the Religious Pragmatism of William James.
- Authors
Ruetenik, Tadd
- Abstract
The article discusses the social meliorism in the religious pragmatism of psychologist and writer William James. William James has been criticized for having a narrowly individualistic bias regarding religious experience. In the book "The Varieties of Religious Experience," he famously focuses on the feelings, acts and experiences of solitary individuals standing in relation to what they may consider the divine, while explicitly neglecting consideration of the religious institutions that such individuals derive. The article exemplifies the two parts of James's religious pragmatism, the lonely experiences of sick souls and the collective activities of social amelioration in which these sick souls become connected with a higher power.
- Subjects
PRAGMATISM; JAMES, William, 1842-1910; VARIETIES of Religious Experience, The (Book : James); RELIGIOUS institutions; REALISM; INDIVIDUALISM; MELIORISM (Philosophy)
- Publication
Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 2005, Vol 19, Issue 3, p238
- ISSN
0891-625X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/jsp.2005.0024