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Pragmatism and Other Writings
Marked by a rare combination of penetrating thought and virtuosic style, the writings of William James represent one of America's most original contributions to the history of ideas. Ranging from philosophy and psychology to religion and politics, James composed the most engaging formulation of American pragmatism. This collection presents Pragmatism in its entirety, James...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
April 1st 2000
by Penguin Classics
(first published 1907)
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Sep 26, 2011
Bill
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William James is one of my favorites. A long while ago, The Varieties Of Religious Experience made a pretty big impression on me. This guy has left its mark as well.
What I like about William James is as much style as anything else... almost all of his good stuff is written lectures, so there's an oratorical flair about it. At the same time, though, _Pragmatism_ (the first set of lectures here) and _Varieties_ both have a good literary arc to them, they're whole works. Given that, I wonder how hi...more
What I like about William James is as much style as anything else... almost all of his good stuff is written lectures, so there's an oratorical flair about it. At the same time, though, _Pragmatism_ (the first set of lectures here) and _Varieties_ both have a good literary arc to them, they're whole works. Given that, I wonder how hi...more
One of my favorite philosophical texts. James is an eye opening read to many who feel dissatisfied with philosophy or that most ideas of the world are too extreme, in either direction. However, James' philosophy of Pragmatism is not "settling" for the average or picking the exact middleground. Pragmatism encourages what works. If an idea fits into what we experience, it is valuable. By the same token, it is a good idea to look at what the consequences would be if a particular idea or philosophy...more
Jun 11, 2008
Tyler
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Educators, General Philosophy Readers
Shelves:
philosophy
Pragmatism, it appears, tries to answer a question that hasn't been asked.
Henry James wants to bridge the gap between materialism and idealism, or maybe between rationalism and empiricim. But both sides of those issues are clearly drawn; I saw no need to introduce any bridging concept, and even at that time, James's proposal was anachronistic.
Here, too, one finds James's curious theory of truth: that truth is what works for the immediate purpose. This has a limited application in the field of...more
Henry James wants to bridge the gap between materialism and idealism, or maybe between rationalism and empiricim. But both sides of those issues are clearly drawn; I saw no need to introduce any bridging concept, and even at that time, James's proposal was anachronistic.
Here, too, one finds James's curious theory of truth: that truth is what works for the immediate purpose. This has a limited application in the field of...more
It's easy to see how this would be so readily adopted by Dewey and other reformers, since Truth is really just a conveyance to an end. I'm not quite as critical as that might seem. James is convincing in his argument that the other philosophers rely too much on abstraction and logic, when much of that rationality becomes too unwieldy for use.
Oct 01, 2008
Edward
added it
The original philosophy of Pragmatism says that the meaning of words is largely a matter of agreement between speaker and listener (or in many cases, disagreement), and not inherent in words themselves. This has nothing to do with the current usage, in which pragmatic is taken to mean practical. The change in meaning of the word "Pragmatic" is a good example of the theory.
Dashiell Hammett used the ideas of the Pragmatists, including James and Charles Sanders Peirce, in writing The Maltese Falcon...more
Dashiell Hammett used the ideas of the Pragmatists, including James and Charles Sanders Peirce, in writing The Maltese Falcon...more
An attempt to build a theology based on the theory that God is not intimately involved in creation after the fact. His arguments hinge on the ASSUMPTION that God is not involved in our daily lives and therefore proceeds to develope ideas of what morale should look like and whether the concept of morality exists. He theorizes that morale comes from the idea that humans are in mutual agreement not to hurt one another and that becomes the standard. There are of course other theologies derived in th...more
We all need a philosophy to live by and pragmatism, not uniquely American, but certainly sharpened to it's highest degree on these shores, is a good place to start.
great philosophy. very convincing
There's something dangerous about rereading too many times a philosopher one agrees with, but I constantly find I need to have his argument refreshed for me so I can go about my day with some sanity. James' test for truth and meaning, basically that the one applies to what is worth your believing and the other is what effects your understanding, are so shockingly sane as to almost warrant banishing him from the annals of philosophy. Couldn't recommend him enough.
When James's arguments are seriously considered they will likely have an effect on one's worldview. The effect might be big for some and small for others, but there will likely be an effect.
This book should be the basis of everything human. Required reading for every high school student. Oh yeah, it shows us where existentialism led to if your into the history of philosophy or something.
I think I've read this at least three times, but this time through I was particularly interested in James' epistemology of religion. Turns out, I was surprised at James' rationalistic fideism.
There are some Sunday afernoons when all I want to do is curl up on the couch with this book and pull apart James' logic.
America could also do philosophy. An amazing mind.
I like this dude better than his brother...
May 13, 2013
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“See the exquisite contrast of the types of mind! The pragmatist clings to facts and concreteness, observes truth at its work in particular cases, and generalises. Truth, for him, becomes a class-name for all sorts of definite working-values in experience. For the rationalist it remains a pure abstraction, to the bare name of which we must defer. When the pragmatist undertakes to show in detail just why we must defer, the rationalist is unable to recognise the concretes from which his own abstraction is taken. He accuses us of denying truth; whereas we have only sought to trace exactly why people follow it and always ought to follow it. Your typical ultra-abstractions fairly shudders at concreteness: other things equal, he positively prefers the pale and spectral. If the two universes were offered, he would always choose the skinny outline rather than the rich thicket of reality. It is so much purer, clearer, nobler.”
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“An outree explanation, violating all our preconceptions, would never pass for a true account of a novelty. We should scratch round industriously till we found something less excentric.”
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2 people liked it
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