Dr William James

The Varieties of Religious Experience Dr William James

RELIGION AND NEUROLOGY Introduction: the course is not anthropological, but deals with personal documents- Questions of fact and questions of value- In point of fact, the religious are often neurotic- Criticism of medical materialism, which condemns religion on that account- Theory that religion has a sexual origin refuted- All states of mind are neurally conditioned- Their significance must be tested not by their origin but by the value of their fruits- Three criteria of value; origin useless as a criterion- Advantages of the psychopathic temperament when a superior intellect goes with it-especially for the religious life.