The Need for God and the Problem of Evil within William James’ Moral Philosophy

Bibliographic Data

ID19230373
AuthorsA T Fyfe (0000-0002-5775-2380, University of Maryland, Baltimore, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-04-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSophia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-1527 • E-ISSN: 1873-930X
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11841-026-01135-8
OpenAlexW7155201018
LanguageEN
References cited24

How can we maintain the reality and significance of human moral concerns in a universe that science has seemingly revealed to be utterly indifferent to us? This paper follows William James’ struggle to answer this question, from his early embrace of his father’s religious monism, through a period of atheistic scientism, to his mature position advocating for belief in a finite God. While James is often read as defending religious faith on pragmatic grounds, I argue instead that his belief can only be understood as part of his lifelong project to recognize evil’s reality and significance

Atheism · Belief in God · Existence of God · Faith · Philosophy of religion · Problem of Evil · Religious belief · Theism · Ethics in Business and Education · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education · Theology and Philosophy of Evil

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