ウィリアム・ジェイムズにおける絶対主義批判と有限な神

Abstract

William James (1842-1910) constantly criticized the English and American absolutism derived from Hegel, and thereby developed his own philosophy. Examining this aspect of his philosophy will help to elucidate what he intended to say in his obscure writing. His own doctrine is inseparably linked with the criticism against the absolutism. The aim of this study is to clarify how he criticized the absolutism and opposed the radical empiricism to it, mainly referring to A Pluralistic Universe. James claims that, in terms of "intimacy" the radical empiricism sets as a criterion of good philosophy, "the Weltanschauung" and the God as the Absolute are not only insufficient, but also logically imperfect because of its crucial contradiction. Thus he replaced the philosophy of the Absolute with the radical empiricism. The finite God held by the radical empiricism is the one James thinks as worth believing in and as totally different from the God who is almighty, infinite and eternal and who reigns transcendently over everything in the whole universe.