Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Pragmatism, Connation, Rebus
8 Dec 2011
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William james holds that truth is dynamic rather than static and is to be defined in terms of beliefs that are useful or satisfying. The truth is in process - still becoming and changing. Yesterday"s truth is today"s falsehood and today"s truth is tomorrow"s half-truth. The pragmatic method is primarily a method of settling metaphysical disputes that otherwise might be interminable. Here are nations either of which may or may not hold good of the world; and disputed over such notions are unending. A new theory is attacked as absurd; then it is admitted to be true, but obvious and insignificant; finally it is seen to be so important that is adversaries claim that they themselves discovered it. Truth is a property of certain of our ideas. It means their agreement, as falsity means their disagreement, with reality Pragmatists and intellectualists both accept this definition as a matter of course.
