[MD] Intellectual Level

[david buchanan]

Mark said:
...James had to choose between the two, and I believe he chose determinism so that a deity would not be required.  



dmb says:
Just want to correct this small point. As a young man, James had a personal crisis in response to determinism. He was literally suicidal over the thought that it might be true and he famously decided that his first act of free will would be to believe in free will. He struggled through his whole life to articulate a philosophy that could handle novelty, spontaneity and human purpose in an open and unfinished universe. 
In other words, determinism is too static and James craved a philosophy that included the dynamic. The kind of reality painted by determinism was so awful and depressing that it literally made James want kill himself.