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by William James (1907)
To the Memory of John Stuart Mills from whom I first learned the
pragmatic openness of mind and whom my fancy likes to picture as our
leader were he alive today
Table of Contents:
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Preface
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Lecture 1: The Present Dilemma
in Philosophy
Chesterton quoted. Everyone has a philosophy. Temperament is a factor in
all philosophizing. Rationalists and empiricists. The tender-minded and
the tough-minded. Most men wish both facts and religion. Empiricism
gives facts without religion. Rationalism gives religion without facts.
The layman's dilemma. The unreality in rationalistic systems. Leibnitz
on the damned, as an example. M. I. Swift on the optimism of idealists.
Pragmatism as a mediating system. An objection. Reply: philosophies have
characters like men, and are liable to as summary judgments. Spencer as
an example.
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Lecture 2: What Pragmatism
Means
The squirrel. Pragmatism as a method. History of the method. Its
character and affinities. How it contrasts with rationalism and
intellectualism. A 'corridor theory.' Pragmatism as a theory of truth,
equivalent to 'humanism.' Earlier views of mathematical, logical, and
natural truth. More recent views. Schiller's and Dewey's 'instrumental'
view. The formation of new beliefs. Older truth always has to be kept
account of. Older truth arose similarly. The 'humanistic' doctrine.
Rationalistic criticisms of it. Pragmatism as mediator between
empiricism and religion. Barrenness of transcendental idealism. How far
the concept of the Absolute must be called true. The true is the good in
the way of belief. The clash of truths. Pragmatism unstiffens
discussion.
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Lecture 3: Some Metaphysical
Problems Pragmatically Considered
The problem of substance. The Eucharist. Berkeley's pragmatic treatment
of material substance. Locke's of personal identity. The problem of
materialism. Rationalistic treatment of it. Pragmatic treatment. 'God'
is no better than 'Matter' as a principle, unless he promise more.
Pragmatic comparison of the two principles. The problem of design.
'Design' per se is barren. The question is WHAT design. The problem of
'free-will.' Its relations to 'accountability.' Free-will a cosmological
theory. The pragmatic issue at stake in all these problems is what do
the alternatives PROMISE.
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Lecture 4: The One and the
Many
Total reflection. Philosophy seeks not only unity, but totality.
Rationalistic feeling about unity. Pragmatically considered, the world
is one in many ways. One time and space. One subject of discourse. Its
parts interact. Its oneness and manyness are co- ordinate. Question of
one origin. Generic oneness. One purpose. One story. One knower. Value
of pragmatic method. Absolute monism. Vivekananda. Various types of
union discussed. Conclusion: We must oppose monistic dogmatism and
follow empirical findings.
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Lecture 5: Pragmatism and
Common Sense
Noetic pluralism. How our knowledge grows. Earlier ways of thinking
remain. Prehistoric ancestors DISCOVERED the common sense concepts. List
of them. They came gradually into use. Space and time. 'Things.' Kinds.
'Cause' and 'law.' Common sense one stage in mental evolution, due to
geniuses. The 'critical' stages: 1) scientific and 2) philosophic,
compared with common sense. Impossible to say which is the more 'true.'
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Lecture 6: Pragmatism's
Conception of Truth
The polemic situation. What does agreement with reality mean? It means
verifiability. Verifiability means ability to guide us prosperously
through experience. Completed verifications seldom needful. 'Eternal'
truths. Consistency, with language, with previous truths. Rationalist
objections. Truth is a good, like health, wealth, etc. It is expedient
thinking. The past. Truth grows. Rationalist objections. Reply to them.
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Lecture 7: Pragmatism and
Humanism
The notion of THE Truth. Schiller on 'Humanism.' Three sorts of reality
of which any new truth must take account. To 'take account' is
ambiguous. Absolutely independent reality is hard to find. The human
contribution is ubiquitous and builds out the given. Essence of
pragmatism's contrast with rationalism. Rationalism affirms a
transempirical world. Motives for this. Tough-mindedness rejects them. A
genuine alternative. Pragmatism mediates.
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Lecture 8: Pragmatism and
Religion
Utility of the Absolute. Whitman's poem 'To You.' Two ways of taking it.
My friend's letter. Necessities versus possibilities. 'Possibility'
defined. Three views of the world's salvation. Pragmatism is melioristic.
We may create reality. Why should anything BE? Supposed choice before
creation. The healthy and the morbid reply. The 'tender' and the 'tough'
types of religion. Pragmatism mediates.
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