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Chapter 1 Meaning and Truth  Pragmatism W illiam James described pragmatism as a method of approaching meaning and truth that would overcome the split between scientific and religious thinking. Scientific and religious thought had developed in isolation from each other and each resides in a particular temperament. James called the scientific approach “toughminded ” and pointed out that its adherents tend to be empiricist, determinist , materialist, and pessimistic. The “tender-minded” personality tends to be idealist, believes in free will and the reality of spiritual beings, and has an optimistic outlook. James did not assert that truth depends on temperament but that the kind of proposition that a person more likely accepts as true, depends on temperament. The pragmatic method was intended to bridge the gap between the tough- and tender-minded by discerning the meaning and truth-value of any proposition regardless of the temperament of the person who advocates it. James attributed the origin of pragmatism to his friend, Charles Sanders Peirce. In his essay, “How to Make our Ideas Clear,” Peirce’s starting point was a critique of Rene Descartes. Peirce charged that Descartes offered clarity as the criterion for true ideas, but he did not explain what constitutes a clear idea, or prescribe how we can make our ideas clear. As the title of Peirce’s essay implies, he hoped to remedy the omission he found in Descartes. Peirce suggested that in beginning philosophy, we should dismiss “make-believe” methods such as Descartes’ methodic doubt. Instead, there is only one place from which we can begin, namely, the place in which we find ourselves when we begin. If we look at our minds at any moment, we find two kinds of thoughts, beliefs and doubts. A doubt identifies a state of mind in  3  which we need to ask a question. A belief is a state of mind in which we can make a statement. Doubt involves uneasiness due to a lack of a rule to determine our action. We do not know what to do aside from clearing up the doubt by finding an answer to the question. We clear up the doubt by “fixing,” that is, establishing a belief. A belief is a rule of action. When we have a belief, we know what we would do, given the proper circumstances. We act on our beliefs; otherwise they are not really beliefs. The fundamental principle of pragmatism teaches that we can truly say that we believe a proposition only if we are willing to act on it. The meaning of any belief is precisely the kind of action to which it leads. We make an idea clear therefore , by identifying the action that we would perform if we believe the idea, and the result that would follow if the idea is true. William James developed pragmatism into a method for determining the meaning and testing the truth of any proposition. Pragmatism means the belief that the whole meaning of any proposition shows itself in the difference that results if the proposition holds true. If anyone asserts anything whatsoever , the pragmatist asks, “So what? What difference will it make in anyone’s life if the proposition is true?” That difference constitutes the whole meaning of the proposition. If believing the proposition makes no difference, the proposition is meaningless. When a dispute breaks out the pragmatist asks, “What difference will it make if this or that position stands as the correct one?” If no difference results, the dispute is merely verbal. According to the pragmatic theory of meaning, ideas are a way to adapt to the environment, that is, to solve problems. The human mind develops abstract concepts that substitute for perceptions and images. The formation of concepts enables us to apply the experience of the past to a wide range of problems and to anticipate problems that have not yet appeared. We have many concepts that we never actually use to solve problems. Just as nature provides an extravagant number of organisms, so human nature extravagantly allows for a large number of concepts that each person is able to master. Nature exhibits, as an operating principle, that in order to assure a sufficient supply of anything we have to have an overabundance. So although many of our concepts are not actually useful to us, concepts as a whole have a practical purpose. James developed his theory of meaning into a theory of truth. The only things that can be called true or false are beliefs. Reality...

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