Analysis of SSHM Prologue - Conner Kaufman

Author, John Kaag, uses the prologue to set up his reasoning for writing the book. He tells a short story about when he was on his way to William James Hall (at Harvard) the same morning an alumnus had jumped from the 15^th floor to commit suicide. This inspired him to write a book filled with some of (William) James’s knowledge that had helped him personally. He felt if it could help him, it could be of use to someone who found themselves in a similar situation to the person who jumped from the 15^th story.

There is limited mention of William James philosophy since it is just the prologue, but a few pieces of his work are mentioned. His first reference to James is in the title of the book, Sick Souls / Sick Souled

William James described someone of a “sick soul” as someone whose life consisted solely of “zigzagging” between different tendencies, acting on a whim rather than following through with “deliberate plans”, wishing for things that cannot be obtained, they spend their whole life “repenting” or making up for the mistakes that they feel they have made. He also mentions that these “sick-souled” people fall all across the board, anywhere from Harvard graduates to people in mental institutions. After James defined this “sick-souled” person, he sought to craft “a philosophy of healthy-mindedness”

He also alludes to James’s essay Is Life Worth Living (one of James’s best-selling books), quotes James in that the possibility of life being worth living “depends on the liver”, this answer leaves a lot of room for interpretation, but James really pushed the idea that there is almost always time to make something of value in your life before it is too late

This view is a very pragmatic view, James is known as one of the greatest pragmatists, one step below father of pragmatism. Pragmatism originally defined by Charles Sanders Pierce, colleague of William James, key ideas originated through discussion in a club that met in Harvard, both philosophers were a part of this club

Basis for James’s version of pragmatism comes from his lecture, “A Certain Blindness in Human Beings.” In the lecture he states that people often have a lack of awareness toward other people’s point of view, everybody has their own insights based upon their situation, nobody could ever account for all truth. Because of this we must rely on others to learn from, which is an empiricist view. Because of this gap between how different people view the same situation, James saw a need for pragmatism

James saw a divide in philosophy, two groups of people, the tender minded and the tough minded. Tender minded philosophy more rooted in optimism and faith, tough minded more rooted in pessimism and not religion. James wanted to create a philosophy that overcame this divide, or fell more so in the middle. He thought the best way to overcome this divide was through the creation of a philosophy that he said is “both empiricist in adherence to facts yet finds room for faith.”

In James’s book Pragmatism, he defines pragmatism as 6 things, a philosophical temperament, a theory of truth, a theory of meaning, a holistic account of knowledge, a metaphysical view, and a method of resolving philosophical disputes

He defines pragmatism as a philosophical temperament through the classification of tender minded and tough minded philosophy, with pragmatism falling somewhere in between

Theory of truth in pragmatism, James says that truths are “a species of the good” because we are able to hold onto truths into the future and expect to find consistency, also states that these truths must be made through human experience.

He defines the theory of meaning through pragmatism with the squirrel example. In this example, the two practical meanings of “circling the squirrel” are what is causing the dispute.

Holistic account of knowledge, it is basically the view that human knowledge is in the constant state of ongoing inquiry. We are always building on what we know. Because of this, knowledge should be gained and be assumed to be true even if its certainty cannot be proved.

Metaphysical view, pragmatist metaphysical view it that reality is still in the making,

Method of solving philosophical disputes, example of this is in squirrel example, dispute between two people can be resolved if pragmatic thinking it put into place, which means attempting to interpret each opposing view by tracing its practical consequences (or reasoning)