The Study of William James Views on the Possibility of Personal Immortality Based on Eugene Fontinell’s points of view

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies – Tehran University

2 M.A. in Philosophy of Religion- Tehran University

Abstract

This article is concerned with Eugene Fontinell’s idea about personal immortality. Fontinell has offered a specific view about the possibility of afterlife, through employing the experimental method, William James’s pragmatic method, and also developing William James’s Field Theory and his psychological ideas about the “Self”.  Fontinell believes that it is possible to imagine immortality in a processive and relational world, according to William James’s views. Believing in immortality is not detached from our existence in this world, but it is being supported by our mundane lives. Fontinell is trying to offer a reasonable theory about personal immortality, without logical contradictions.  Thus, Fontinell’s theory about immortality is important because it has explained and justified the afterlife without being dualistic, and without ignoring the experiences; by doing so, he has weakened the experimentalists’ view against personal immortality

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References

Fontinell, Eugene (2000), Self, God and Immortality: a Jamesian Investigation, New York, Fordham University Press.
Fontinell, Eugene (1999), “James: Religion and Individuality,” in Classical American Pragmatism: Its Contemporary Vitality. edited by Sandra B. Rosenthal, Carl R. Hausman, Douglas R. Anderson, Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Fontinell, Eugene (Winter 1996-97), Spirituality in a world of “Fields within Fields Within Fields…”, Cross Currents, Vol.46 ,Issue 4.
Hamilton Susan (2001), “Indian Philosophy: A very short Introduction”, New York, Oxford University Press. P.90
James,William (1902). The Varieties of Religous Experience, Retrieved September 28, 2013, from http://www.sacred-texts.com /etc/vre/
James,William (1909).  A Pluralistic Universe, Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://www.fullbooks.com/A-Pluralistic-Universe.html
James,William (1952), The Principles of Psychology, The University of Chicago.
James,William (1898), Human Immortality, Retrieved August 23 2014, from http://www. religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=541&C=624

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