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Abstrakt

The paper is an attempt to analyze the theses from James’ book Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals. The main issue raised by the author is the relationship between utility of religious convictions and the source of their origin. According to James, philosophical concepts must be divided into existential judgments (answering the question about the nature of a thing or phenomenon and its source) from the propositions of value (significance, importance) – which opposes the so-called medical materialism. I illustrate the limitations of above expressed thesis, arguing that in the case of religious convictions presumption of their supernatural origin is the basis for their recognition, as well as is translating into the rules of action. This means that the religious hypothesis cannot be treated equally with scientific hypothesis, because it contains a larger share of commitment and its verification extends beyond the sphere of mortal life.