Rhetorical Analysis Of The Will To Believe

In The Will to Believe, William James claims that “we have the right to believe at our own risk any hypothesis that is live enough to tempt our will.” He explains what a hypothesis and the option between them mean. James furthers his argument with the psychology of human opinion. He explains that the reason for decision is “[n]ot where is comes from but what it leads to…” And lastly, James describes the human conflict of knowing the truth and avoiding error.
To begin, James clearly defines words he will be using. He tells the audience precisely what he means by a hypothesis, an option, and live and dead versions of both. James explains a hypothesis as “anything that may be proposed to our belief.” He goes on to discuss the individual properties of these propositions. He asserts “that the deadness and liveness in a hypothesis are not intrinsic properties, but relations to the individual thinker.” Identifying it as a personal choice. He further explains the decision between two hypotheses as being an “option.” Each of these definitions supports his claim that hypotheses and beliefs are individual.
He says that it is not important where the hypothesis comes from, but where the decision of whether or not to believe it leads to. This explains that each decision is of an individual, and that it doesn’t matter where it comes from, which is the same for everyone, but where it will take you, which is individualized. This supports the claim that belief comes from what we as an individual are tempted to