Pragmatism, a New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking: Popular Lectures on Philosophy |
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Common terms and phrases
Abso absolute absolute edition absolute monism abstract actual agree atoms believe better called claim common sense conceive conception concrete connexion definite difference divine doctrine empiricism empiricist ence eternal everything exist experience facts feel finite follow forms Frederick Myers free-will friability human hypothesis ical ideal imagine intellectual intellectualist kind knower live logic look Lowell Institute lute matter melioristic ment mental metaphysical mind monistic mystical nature ness notion object pantheism particular philosophy plural pluralistic possible practical prag pragmatic method PRAGMATISM MEANS pragmatist principle question radical rationalism rationalist reality reason relations religion religious Schiller Scholasticism sensations sensible simply sort spirit stage substance suppose talk temperament tender-minded theism theory things thought tically tion tism tough-minded transcendental idealism treat true ideas truth unified union unity universe vague verification whole word
Popular passages
Page 104 - ... the energies of our system will decay, the glory of the sun will be dimmed, and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit, and all his thoughts will perish. The uneasy consciousness, which in this obscure corner has for a brief space broken the contented silence of the universe, will be at rest. -Matter will know itself no longer. ' Imperishable monuments ' and ' immortal deeds,' death itself, and...
Page 220 - The true,' to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving. Expedient in almost any fashion; and expedient in the long run and on the whole of course; for what meets expediently all the experience in sight won't necessarily meet all farther experiences equally satisfactorily.
Page 207 - Truth lives, in fact, for the most part on a credit system. Our thoughts and beliefs "pass," so long as nothing challenges them, just as bank-notes pass so long as nobody refuses them. But this all points to direct face-to-face verifications somewhere, without which the fabric of truth collapses like a financial system with no " cash-basis whatever. You accept my verification of one thing, I yours of another. We trade on each other's truth. But beliefs verified concretely by somebody are the posts...
Page 297 - On pragmatistic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true. Now whatever its residual difficulties may be, experience shows that it certainly does work, and that the problem is to build it out and determine it so that it will combine satisfactorily with all the other working truths.
Page 295 - A shipwrecked sailor buried on this coast Bids you set sail. Full many a bark, when we were lost, Weathered the gale.
Page 67 - Schiller, in particular, has been treated like an impudent schoolboy who deserves a spanking. I should not mention this, but for the fact that it throws so much sidelight upon that rationalistic temper to which I have opposed the temper of pragmatism. Pragmatism is uncomfortable away from facts. Rationalism is comfortable only in the presence of abstractions. This pragmatist talk about truths in the plural, about their utility and satisfactoriness, about the success with which they 'work,' etc.,...
Page 57 - ... investigators have become accustomed to the notion that no theory is absolutely a transcript of reality, but that any one of them may from some point of view be useful. Their great use is to summarize old facts and to lead to new ones. They are only a man-made language, a conceptual shorthand, as some one calls them, in which we write our reports of nature; and languages, as is well known, tolerate much choice of expression and many dialects.
Page 80 - ... that should seem a likely place to find him. Her only test of probable truth is what works best in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and combines with the collectivity of experience's demands, nothing being omitted. If theological ideas should do this, if the notion of God, in particular, should prove to do it, how could pragmatism possibly deny God's existence? She could see no meaning in treating as 'not true' a notion that was pragmatically so successful.
Page 3 - There are some people — and I am one of them — who think that the most practical and important thing about a man is still his view of the universe. We think that for a landlady considering a lodger it is important to know his income, but still more important to know his philosophy. We think that for a general about to fight an enemy it is important to know the enemy's numbers, but still more important to know the enemy's philosophy. We think the question is not whether the theory of the cosmos...
Page 255 - The import of the difference between pragmatism and rationalism is now in sight throughout its whole extent. The essential contrast is that for rationalism reality is ready-made and complete from all eternity, while for pragmatism it is still in the making, and awaits part of its complexion from the future.