Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of ThinkingWhat is "reality"? How do we test the value of any given philosophical system? Can philosophy be "useful"? Why must we reject the notion that there is one concrete "truth"? American psychologist and philosopher WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910), brother of novelist Henry James, was a groundbreaking researcher at Harvard University, author of such works as Principles of Psychology (1890) and The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902), and one of the most influential academics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here, over a series of eight lectures delivered at the Lowell Institute in Boston in late 1906 and at Columbia University in early 1907, he explores these questions as he discusses: - "The Present Dilemma in Philosophy" - "What Pragmatism Means" - "Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered" - "The One and the Many" - "Pragmatism and Common Sense" - "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth" - "Pragmatism and Humanism" - "Pragmatism and Religion" |
Contents
What Pragmatism Means Lecture Five Pragmatism and Common Sense 225 | 39 |
The One and the Many | 57 |
Pragmatism and Humanism | 105 |
Pragmatism and Religion | 119 |
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absolute absolute edition absolute monism abstract abstractly actual already atoms beliefs better called claim climacteric common sense conceivable conception concrete consequences copy critical definite difference divine doctrine empiricism empiricist eternal everything exist experience facts feel finite follow forms Frederick Myers free-will friability human hypothesis ideal imagine influence intellectual intellectualist kind knower live logic Lowell Institute materialistic matter melioristic metaphysical monistic monotheism mystical nature notion object pantheism particular philosophy pluralism pluralistic possible practical prag pragmatic method PRAGMATISM MEANS pragmatist previous truths principle protestantism purpose question radical rationalism rationalist mind reality reason relations religion religious rience salvation Schiller Scholasticism sensations sensible simply sort spirit stage substance supposed talk temperament tender-minded theism theories things thought tion tism tough-minded transcendental idealism treat true ideas unified union unity universe vague verified whole word