William James, consciência e religião

Abstract

At the turn of the 20th century, William James (1842–1910) established himself as one of the leading figures to reflect upon the phenomenon of consciousness in dialogue with the new experimental approaches of the time. Having written on a wide variety of topics — such as ethics, religion, and metaphysics — many authors end up limiting his contribution to psychology to the book The Principles of Psychology (1890). The first goal of this work is to challenge this restrictive view, defending the thesis of pervasiveness. To this, it shows that his investigation related to philosophical problems — ontological, epistemological, ethical — as well as methodological and religious questions, is grounded in his conception of consciousness. It is proposed a hermeneutical approach to the reading of James’ work, centered on the dynamics ascribed to consciousness. From this, it is argued that the mechanisms James attributes to consciousness are expressed in a paradigmatic way in the context of the investigation of religious phenomena, which, in turn, implies a reassessment of the basic presuppositions of that discipline. The first two chapters discuss the basilar elements of his definition of consciousness, while the last two treat both his reflections relating to religion and the relationship between that and the problem of consciousness.