The Will to Believe (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

These classic essays address concerns of religious faith from a philosophical perspective. “The Will to Believe” is a defense of the legitimacy of religious faith-though not as a defense of the validity of such faith. James responds to the often corrosive effect of rationality on religious faith by arguing that it is most rational to choose faith. He continues his argument in “Human Immortality,” demonstrating that it is legitimate to believe in immortality to satisfy a spiritual need because, though science does not prove it, it also does not exclude its possibility. However, these essays can still “break up and ventilate” faiths too easily formed, too tightly held, whether those “faiths” come in the form of academic, religious, or other dogmas.