Self, God and Immortality : a Jamesian Investigation / Eugene Fontinell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fontinell, Eugene, Author.

drew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Ope, National Endowment for the Humanities/An, Author.

Series:

American philosophy series.

American Philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

James, William, 1842-1910.

James, William.

Immortality--History of doctrines--20th century.

Immortality.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxv, 297 pages).

Edition:

"First Open Access edition".

Place of Publication:

LaVergne : Fordham University Press, 2018.

New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Fontinell Eugene : Eugene Fontinell is Professor of Philosophy at Queens College, City University of New York.Eugene Fontinell is Professor of Philosophy at Queens College, City University of New York.

Summary:

Can we who have been touched by the scientific, intellectual, and experimental revolutions of modern and contemporary times still believe with and degree of coherence and consistency that we as individual persons are immortal. Indeed, is there even good cause to hope that we are? In examining the present relationship of reason to faith, can we find justifying reasons for faith? These are the central questions in Self, God, and Immortality, a compelling exercise in philosophical theology. Drawing upon the works of William James and the principles of American Pragmatism, Eugene Fontinell extrapolates carefully from "data given in experience" to a model of the cosmic process open to the idea that individual identity may survive bodily dissolution. Presupposing that the possibility of personal immortality has been established in the first part, the second part of the essay is concerned with desirability. Here, Fontinell shows that, far from diverting attention and energies from the crucial tasks confronting us here and now, such belief can be energizing and life enhancing. The wider importance of Self, God, and Immortality lies in its pressing both immortality-believers and terminality-believers to explore both the metaphysical presuppositions and the lived consequences of their beliefs. It is the author's expressed hope that such explorations, rather than impeding, will stimulate co-operative efforts to create a richer and more humane community.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE TO THE FORDHAM EDITION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Introduction

CHAPTER 1. World or Reality as "Fields"

CHAPTER 2. Toward a Field Model of the Self

CHAPTER 3. James: Toward a Field-Self

CHAPTER 4. James: Personal Identity

CHAPTER 5. James: Full Self and Wider Fields

CHAPTER 6. James: Self and God

CHAPTER 7. Immortality: Hope or Hindrance?

CHAPTER 8. Immortality: A Pragmatic-Processi ve Model

Concluding Reflections

NOTES

Index

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

0-8232-8515-4

OCLC:

1102727319