William James

William James was an American philosopher and psychologist, often called the father of American psychology and a leading figure in the pragmatist tradition. His major works include The Principles of Psychology (1890), The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), and the essay collection The Will to Believe (1897), in which “Is Life Worth Living?” appears. The idea that belief can be self-fulfilling — that conviction helps bring about the very fact it affirms — is central to his philosophy of the “will to believe.”