So for those few following this discussion, we have now seen how William James came to hold his unique view of philosophy and its role in human flourishing. Insofar as James was schooled in "physiology"--similar to being on a STEM path in today's universities--his interest always lied with attempting to tie together the "epiphenomenon" of consciousness with the brute empirical necessities we often mistakenly call "reality".
What James did was both fascinating as well as extremely frustrating. Rather than assume there was an actual "reality" out there that we could know with certainty, James turned "reality" back onto itself by way of exploring how "consciousness" came into being. Following the newly published work by Darwin, James argued that consciousness appears to come into being by way of physical necessities such as "reflexes" found in all living organisms, to "instincts" found in higher order organisms, as well as "habits" that appear in turn be the source of "consciousness".
Yes that is correct, James suggest consciousness is simply a habit--though there is an argument to be made that James actually argues consciousness lies between "instinct" and "habit", but that is a discussion for another time. That said, insofar as consciousness remains a habit, those habits that have the best "cash value", will be those habits that have proven themselves "useful" over time. For example, when the ancient Greeks believed in the Gods living on Olympus, that BELIEF worked insofar as it allowed the ancient's habits to find "usefulness" in-the-world.
What William James suggested was that even our most "rational" accounts of "reality", such as applying mathematics, are simply the result of "habits/beliefs that have happened to work over time". Could there be a time in the "future" when these habits/beliefs no longer work? Absolutely! However, it will be the result of our beliefs NOT reality.
Paging President Trump ;-)
