Evidentialism and the Will to Believe

Work on the norms of belief in epistemology regularly starts with two touchstone essays: W.K. Clifford''s "The Ethics of Belief" and William James''s "The Will to Believe." Discussing the central themes from these seminal essays, Evidentialism and the Will to Believe explores the history of the ideas governing evidentialism.

As well as Clifford''s argument from the examples of the shipowner, the c...