Pragmatism |
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Author:
| James, Willam |
ISBN: | 978-1-4927-5067-3 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2013 |
Publisher: | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | USD $8.99 |
Book Description:
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Notes from
The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal, Volume 209: The philosophy which is called Pragmatism or Humanism* is genuinely new, and is singularly well-adapted to the predominant ntellectual temper of our time. As regards its adaptation to be age, we shall have more to say when we have considered what it is. As regards novelty, its authors show a modesty which, in our opinion, is somewhat excessive. 'Pragmatism, 'a new name for some old ways of thinking,'...
More DescriptionNotes from The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal, Volume 209:
The philosophy which is called Pragmatism or Humanism* is genuinely new, and is singularly well-adapted to the predominant ntellectual temper of our time. As regards its adaptation to be age, we shall have more to say when we have considered what it is. As regards novelty, its authors show a modesty which, in our opinion, is somewhat excessive. 'Pragmatism, 'a new name for some old ways of thinking,' Professor William James calls his book; and Dr. Schiller constantly asserts that his doctrines are those of Protagoras. As for Protagoras, we know sufficiently little about him to be able to read into him almost any doctrine we please; and the appeal to him may be regarded as mainly due to the desire to produce an ancestry which has acquired respectability by the lapse of time. With regard to more modern precursors, it must be admitted that many philosophers-as chief among whom we may mention Nietzsche-have paved the way for the new doctrines. Nevertheless, the cardinal point in the pragmatist philosophy, namely its theory of truth, is so new, and so necessary to the rest of the philosophy, even to those parts which had been previously maintained by others, that its inventors cannot be regarded as merely developing the thoughts of less explicit predecessors.
The name 'pragmatism' was first introduced into philosophy by Mr. C. S. Peirce, as long ago as 1878. It was applied by him to the doctrine that the significance of a thought lies in the actions to which it leads. In order to estimate the difference between two different beliefs about the same matter, he maintained, we ought to consider what difference in conduct would result according as we adopted the one belief or the other. If no difference would result, the two beliefs are not effectively different. Mr. Peirce's doctrine, however, remained unnoticed until it was taken up twenty years later by Professor James, who, while retaining the word ' pragmatism,' gave it a more sweeping significance. The full-fledged philosophy is to be attributed to him and Dr. Schiller jointly. Professor Dewey, of Columbia University, is also to be reckoned among the founders of pragmatism. His writings are more technical and less popular than those of James and Schiller, but on certain points his exposition is perhaps preferable to theirs.