- Hardcover: 360 pages
- Publisher: Harvard University Press; New edition edition (1 Jan 1975)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0674697359
- ISBN-13: 978-0674697355
- Product Dimensions: 24.3 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Pragmatism
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Product Description
Product Description
"It is absolutely the only philosophy with no humbug in it," an exhilarated William James wrote to a friend early in 1907. And later that year, after finishing the proofs of his "little book," he wrote to his brother Henry: "I shouldn't be surprised if ten years hence it should be rated as 'epoch-making, ' for of the definitive triumph of that general way of thinking I can entertain no doubt whatever--I believe it to be something quite like the protestant reformation."
Both the acclaim and outcry that greeted "Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking" helped to affirm James's conviction. For it was in "Pragmatism" that he confronted older philosophic methods with the "pragmatic" method, demanding that ideas be tested by their relation to life and their effects in experience. James's reasoning and conclusions in "Pragmatism" have exerted a profound influence on philosophy in this century, and the book remains a landmark.
From the Back Cover
What 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"
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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27 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I think the previous reviewer was somewhat missing the point of James' thought. Essentially we create truths by discourse and truth does not exist independently of human existence. Therefore whatever we will to believe is true in as much as it is socially agreed. For instance although scientists may 'prove' something to be true, in fact the scientist is merely using a tautological method of proving that which is true by a method that has been shown to prove that the 'fact' is true. Confusing? Yes but the movement through history is one of changes in our belief systems and essentially our truths.
I suggest a perusal of some of the post-positivist thought published to get a handle on this fascinating debate. Key names are Imre Lakatos, Thomas Kuhn and Richard Rorty.
It is a very rewarding and fascinating way of looking with new eyes on the world.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is going to make me sound like a "prole", but I say this in full appreciation of his status as the father of pragmatism and with respect to the age of the text, but this is really, incredibly, boring and dull. There are more exciting and relevant-to-today texts on the subject.
4 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The notion that the truth of an idea is contingent upon it's "cash value" has been one of the more ridiculous turns in the history of thought (thus, by James' own criteria, the idea is "false"). The premise that human experience is all there is can lead to nothing but such an absurdity. An Aztec Gods existence was "true", because a belief in such a God kept one from being beheaded. There's cash value for you. Any intelligent college freshman can see right through James' loony theory, until the authority of the professor makes its impression upon them. The earth is round now and it was round when everyone believed it was flat, the "cash value" of the belief notwithstanding. It should have been titled "The Convenience Theory of Belief".
Given one extra star for at least being well written sophistry.
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