A variety of religious experience. James W.

The life of the American philosopher William James (1842-1910), the leading representative of pragmatism and functionalism, who is commonly called the “father of modern psychology,” was not rich in events, not believing that he was honored to lead the American psychological association, founded in Harvard, where he taught permissively, the first laboratory of applied psychology in the United States, and was carried away by spiritualism in the declining of years. But then after the death of the great scientist, the adventures of his theories began, which either refuted and overthrew, then again offered to the pedestal, then safely forgot - to return to them decades later.

“The diversity of religious experience” is one of the most the famous works of James, in which he focuses on the psychological issues of religious and mystical experiences, sharply distinguishes between the psychological nature of philosophical experience and his philosophical significance indicates the need to distinguish the practical value of any religious phenomenon from the question of the origin of this phenomenon, rejects the idea of ​​the superiority of science Above religion, insisting on their separate and not subject to comparison, and creates a real classification of the most significant features of religious life - from the priority of the believing spiritual world over the visible to its confidence in salvation.