PJAS 17-8
Yi Zhang
Intelligence Inside Out: William James’s Reappraisal of Religion
Polish Journal for American Studies, vol. 17 (2023), pp. 113-131
Abstract: This paper is an attempt to respond to the secularization of intelligence by paying a close attention to the radical reappraisal of religion, inaugurated by William James, the “Father of American psychology,” at the turn of the 20th century. Centering around his classic The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), the paper shows how James manages to sustain a trinity of intelligence, spirituality, and religion in the age of science. Three themes are identified from James’s oeuvre and analyzed in the text: the first is James’s scientific study of religion; the second his distillation of spirituality from religion; and the last his identification of religious patterns in world religions.
Keywords: William James, religion, intelligence, spirituality, science, world religions
DOI: 10.7311/PJAS.17/2023.08