William James

"Or if the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's Utopias should all be outdone, and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torment, what except a specifical and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain?"

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Source: William James (2012). “The Will to Believe and Human Immortality”, p.133, Courier Corporation

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William James

William James

Philosopher, Psychologist

William James was a pioneering American philosopher and psychologist, known for his work on pragmatism and the psychology of belief.

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