Truth and Consequences
William James did not have a pragmatic view in his philosophy until later in his life. He believed that in order to be a pragmatist you need to explore life and experience it. The pragmatic method nowadays can be considered the scientific method or empirical testing. James compared it to a hallway with a hundred different doors all unlocked, all leading anywhere. This reminds me of Plato’s theory of Form and his story about the cave. Plato's story of the cave was a metaphor of how people understand reality and the world around us. We must break out of our chains to experience the world around us in order to expand our minds and beliefs.
James’s Pragmatic theory of Truth was his way of trying to find the middle ground between the tough-minded and the tender-minded. That there was value to both sides. He believed that a person's attitude or temperament affected how they approach ideas and truth.
SpongeBob would represent the tender-minded who believes truth is guaranteed by God or some superhuman. (SSHM, p. 132) Patrick would represent the tough-minded who has doubts of human knowledge. (SSHM, p. 132) I agree with James that our attitudes towards certain ideas can change what we believe and how we approach truth.
His theory suggested that truth is attributed to our ideas. There are many facts out there for us to find but truth is the story of those facts. James said, "Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events. Its verity is in fact an event, a process: the process namely of its own verifying itself, its verification. Its validity is the process of its valid- action."(SSHM, p. 134) I will have to agree with James that the facts of truths are not something you can go out and grab.
Kaag talks about how truth can be a matter of representation. He says that ideas come in the form of abstractions or signs. Such as a song that reflects the rhythm of life or a painting eliciting fleeting feelings. (SSHM, p. 135) These can be true depending on how they work in the world. James said successful ideas can become true. Not just by one individual's idea or situation but by a multitude of people's ideas. An idea can become successful if an idea moves forward over time by tests conducted by many people. Check out this video explains the Pragmatic method. The Pragmatist Theory of Truth. He uses great examples of how we verify ideas with others in order for them to be true. We test our ideas against our experience. Society can deem what is normal and what is taboo based on our experiences. An example of that would be that we can all come together and deem murder is wrong based on the consequences that come from it.
As a society, we live by many truths. James said there are two kinds of Truths, Complete truths (Capital T) and little truths( Lower case t).
Complete truths can be achieved in the long run, but anyone hardly ever reaches it. So, we go through life with little truths. They can guide us through our daily lives sort of successfully. James said, “We have to live through today by the truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it false hood.” (SSHM, p. 137) . This can also related back to when we learned about Plato's theory of forms. Big t- Truths is forms and Little t- Truths is reality. Below is a link to Williams James " The Meaning of Truth" in Ebook form. It is more of a add on to his book " Pragmatism"
James said we must take accountability for the consequences of our ideas. We must be faithful to the realities that shape our ideas but if we ignore these realities or disregarded ideas, we are not following the pragmatic method. We must seek out our sensational termini (end point) with others. (SSHM, p. 141) We must look at other people's consequences and see if the two end points reach the same ideas. Then, may our truths be verified. Experience is a common ground, so our ideas need to be checked to see if the idea is real or has meaning. Consequences was the final verdict in an individuals truths. In his book Pragmatism, he explained that the consequences were yet to be decided. Truths were verified by the practical consequences. We all know that he was not a fan of determinism. James said that we use free will to grow and experience the world around us. He said we use it to live out our truths to endure the human condition. This is going to be a long quote so stay with me. "First, as to the word 'pragmatism.' I myself have only used the term to indicate a method of carrying on abstract discussion. The serious meaning of a concept, says Mr. Peirce, lies in the concrete difference to some one which its being true will make. Strive to bring all debated conceptions to that' pragmatic' test, and you will escape vain wrangling: if it can make no practical difference which of two statements be true, then they are really one statement in two verbal forms; if it can make no practical difference whether a given statement be true or false, then the statement has no real meaning. In neither case is there anything fit to quarrel about: we may save our breath, and pass to more important things." ( James, 1907) James has a point, there is no use in dwelling on something that has no meaning. It is better to put your time into something else.
I wanted to get into a little about his time as teacher at Harvard. James taught Philosophy at Harvard and brought his pragmatic theory to the classroom. He encouraged his students to think about the difficult questions of life. He taught his students that philosophy still had life and death significance by broaching the controversial topics of truth, death, God, freedom, evil and suffering. He wanted his students to come together and share their ideas. To create their truths. He basically wrote a how to be a decent teacher guide. Here is an online version of the book. Talks to Teachers. He wanted other teachers to help expand the minds of their students. Break out of the societal norms. Experience living instead of muting it. " To wrestle with the bad feeling only pins our attention on it, and keeps it fastened in the mind: whereas, if we act as if from some better feeling, the old feeling soon folds its tent..."( James, 1899) We cannot say we are truly living if we are to stay in a mold society formed for us. Breaking the societal norms that other people or ourselves put on us can be a hard change but James believed that our lives can be invigorating. Like we learned in chapter four about consciousness, once we experience something, we cannot go back to the way it was. It can be good to break out of your bubble. Taking control of your own life and living your truths is the responsible thing to do as long as you take accountability
Check out this academic journal I found when researching the pragmatic method.Pragmatism, Relativism, and Irrationalism. In SSHM, Kaag mentions a time when a student of his compared pragmatism to Relativism.( SSHM, p. 135) I had a hard time trying to distinguish the two because our ideas must be useful but they also must always be verified by their practical consequences. This article helped paint a better picture. If you want to learn more about relativism, you can read this article about it. Relativism
If you are just wanting to read a synopsis of the pragmatic theory, check out this article. The Pragmatic Theory of Truth. It starts from the beginning of the Pragmatic method with C.S. Peirce creating the theory, William James making it popular, and John Dewy reframing truth. ( Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2023) It is a good read if you are wanting to get a glimpse of the theory.
Discussion Questions
I have a few questions I wanted to ask and get your opinion on. Do you believe that in order for your idea to be true and useful, it has to have practical consequences? Do you believe that
philosophy is experimental?
( The consequences part of James's pragmatic theory of truth confused me the most. I understand and agree that ideas must be verified in some form for it to be true. You can't just say something is true because you had a thought. I agree that you need to converse with other people and get their opinion before you solidify anything. I also believe that philosophy can be experimental. There are dozens of different philosophies out there and it could be fun to experience each one. There are also different philosophical questions that could be answered through testing. Such as, "what makes people happy?". You can look at the statistics and answers of people to determine what is the main trigger to happiness. )
Nice. You'll want to work on that formatting, get it left-justified.
ReplyDeleteMaybe highlight a couple of points in the video you've found helpful.
You're still having format issues, do your best to rectify that.
DeleteThanks for elaborating on the video content. I'd be careful about the phrase "create your own truths," that can sound misleadingly like a form of relativism James would not advise. When he says "truth happens to ideas, they become true" etc. he doesn't mean we're entitled to make stuff up personally. He does mean that events in the world and in our lives create new conditions, new realities that must be acknowledged and acted on.