The Will to Believe by William James is a philosophical essay that explores the notion of religious faith and the power of belief. In this essay, James argues that it is possible to believe in something without having absolute proof of its truth. He examines the idea that faith is a legitimate form of knowledge
"The Will to Believe" is a lecture by William James, first published in 1896, which defends, in certain cases, the adoption of a belief without prior evidence of its truth. In particular, James is concerned in this lecture about defending the rationality of religious faith even lacking sufficient evidence of religious truth. James states in his introduction: "I have brought with me tonight ... an essay in justification of faith, a defense of our right to adopt a believing attitude in religious matters, in spite of the fact that our merely logical intellect may not have been coerced. 'The Will to Believe,' accordingly, is the title of my paper."