William James

Pragmatism (Unabridged) William James Unabridged edition

Pragmatism, by William James, has wielded an immense influence on modern thought on the rise of science and capitalism in America. In this classic book, James challenges philosophers of all classes to provide a net value to their systems; that is, how do they affect human life or make the world better or worse? James insists that no philosophy finally matters unless it impacts life in concrete terms. To lock down his philosophy he fashions a new model of truth, stating that whatever is beneficial is true. There are huge problems here, such as the rise of the subjective. James doesn't specify to whom truth should be beneficial (humanity in general? Subjective selves?), so his theory leads to strange quandaries. It would be "true" for a sound-minded criminal on trial to plead insanity, and it would also be "true" for the prosecutor to charge guilt and sanity. Obviously, confusing "useful" and "true" is a category obfuscation. As well, morality would suffer on this view. If lying is useful then regarding lies as truths is fully permissible according to James's line of thought. Nonetheless, Pragmatism is an important read simply because so much of today's world is run in terms of the useful rather than the ideal or intrinsically good. That is why art is marginalized, morality compromised, and capital generating systems glorified. James's Pragmatism is extremely useful in helping us to understand ourselves?and modern thinking?today.