According to William James,an essential condition for an act of faith to be a reasonable option is when
A) the rational evidence is overwhelmingly in its favor.
B) no doubts are at all possible.
C) the decision one way or the other is unavoidable.
D) all the above

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

William James argued that an act of faith becomes a reasonable option when the decision between belief and disbelief is unavoidable, and there is not enough rational evidence available to make a conclusive judgment either way. He believed that in such cases, one can choose to believe in the absence of conclusive evidence as a live hypothesis that one is willing to act on, and this can be a pragmatic and, therefore, reasonable option. Therefore, option C, i.e., "the decision one way or the other is unavoidable," is the best choice for this question. Options A and B are incorrect as James did not require overwhelming or doubtless evidence for an act of faith to be reasonable. Option D is incorrect as it includes all options, including A and B, which are not correct.

According to William James,an Essential Condition for an Act of Faith