The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James

1. A living option is one in which both hypotheses are live ones. If

55 words  |  Chapter 5

I say to you: "Be a theosophist or be a Mohammedan," it is probably a dead option, because for you neither hypothesis is likely to be alive. But if I say: "Be an agnostic or be a Christian," it is otherwise: trained as you are, each hypothesis makes some appeal, however small, to your belief.