Pragmatism
by William James · first published 1907
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Why HN recommends it
A short, clearly written introduction to pragmatist philosophy, which holds that truth is a matter of practical consequences. Its lucid style makes it suitable for readers new to philosophy.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The lectures that follow were delivered at the Lowell Institute in Boston in November and December 1906, and in January 1907 at Columbia University in New York"--Pref."First edition, June 1907. Reprinted July (twice), October 1907"--Verso of t.p.Includes index. The present dilemma in philosophy -- What pragmatism means -- Some metaphysical problems pragmatically considered -- The one and the many -- Pragmatism and common sense -- Pragmatism's conception of truth -- Pragmatism and humanism -- Pragmatism and religion.
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…denying the usefulness of these claims, we are denying the certainty of our knowledge being divine. If you want an extremely short book, easy to read, natively English, and the Magnum Opus of a field: Pragmatism by William James. Separately: >2 x pi x r = c is a also tautological if that is what you defined c to be. That's obviously not useful. Idk, I find it useful.
on “The Vatican observatory looks to the heavens” ↗When that happens go to William James and read Pragmatism, then realize you can just decide what you want to believe based on what is adaptive for you. (Easier said than done, and first requires convincing yourself that “true” is often less valuable than “useful.”)
on “How to Think: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught” ↗> When that happens go to William James and read Pragmatism, then realize you can just decide what you want to believe based on what is adaptive for you. Now when that happens, also make sure to remember all the adaptationists who stayed silent and turned a blind…
on “How to Think: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught” ↗…Pragmatist Philosophers and their works on HN. I'm also glad to see that this article at least touches on how James' work relates to contemporary politics and issues. One of the defining features of American Pragmatism is it's optimism. I think it's fair to say that the currently widely held sentiment about the state of society is that we are on the decline. I find that reading James, and talking to others about the…
on “William James and the philosophy of pragmatism” ↗Don’t read about William James, just read a bit of William James! His book Pragmatism is short, freely available, and has his signature writing style: a clarity that is nearly unmatched anywhere, and especially when discussing philosophy. An excerpt: Of whatever temperament a professional…
on ““Pajamas from Spirit Land”: Searching for William James” ↗…of ontology. You have an almost religious view of mathematical existances, but so do most non-philosophers. Plato corrupted us. For further reading, Ontology is the greater branch, but William James's Pragmatism is only a 2.5 hour audiobook and basically caused the divide between your traditional Ontology, and analytical philosophy.
on “The Vatican observatory looks to the heavens” ↗I'm not entirely sure how to do this, but I think it would benefit society to have Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus taught, and probably William James's Pragmatism. Wittgenstein is a difficult read, Pragmatism is not difficult, but I feel like many people wouldn't understand what is being said. The goal of this would be to teach how language is the basis for all…
on “As a linguist, I want to find the words to measure chronic illness” ↗…layer removed, but it shook me from an epistemological perspective. Basically it destroys the idea of metaphysical truth. I'll start with the easy one that was written in native English, William James's Pragmatism. Its only 4 hours long, and teaches 1 of the 3 branches of metaphilosophy(Pragmatic). For ROI in philosophy, it doesn't get better than this. It teaches one of the 3 theories of Truth. Next is significantly…
on “Raising money fucked me up” ↗…that, philosophy and classics are interesting citations because the healthy, important parts of philosophy have mostly been shucked into science (http://paulgraham.com/philosophy.html, or William James's Pragmatism) and classics are interesting but the corpus is static; it is not easy to come up with new and interesting things to say about The Iliad In 1946, I'm sure someone was writing about the decline of theology…
on “Athletics cost colleges, students millions” ↗…there's definitely a balance to be had here. The first time I came across the notion that there might be a downside to keeping everything 'hypothetical' was in reading William James (I think it was in his Pragmatism lectures). He points out the opposition between 'thought' and 'action'. There is a tradeoff in continuing to think about certain subjects in that your ability to act on things related to the subject is…
on “Philip Roth has died” ↗William James i have read, both "Pragmatism"(not completely though) and "Talks to Teachers" (my favourite) but not much of Wittgenstein. There is a lot here which jives with ancient Hindu Schools of Philosophy, specifically; Nyaya (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyaya),…
on “Raising money fucked me up” ↗Pragmatism turned out to be a slippery enough concept that James, a writer with a well-deserved reputation for clarity, had to write a second book about it to address all the misconceptions. His version is all…
on “William James and the philosophy of pragmatism” ↗…worrying about nor philosophizing about because A, B, C. See for example William James and his counter-arguments to philosophers (according to him) who worries about “Angels balancing on a needle’s pin” (Pragmatism). I’ve also incorporated William James thoughts on religion to reconcile my atheism with my spiritual/religious beliefs (The Will to Believe). He says something like: if you believe, what are the upsides,…
on “Philosophy is an art” ↗…the impact of his lectures about James and pragmaticism - I was a bit of a smart alek - convinced that there was only one right way of looking at the world and I (of course! :) knew what it was. James' Pragmatism and his concept of the cash value of ideas - the idea that you could ask how thinking and believing about the world in some particular way might be valuable to someone (in particular) as a part of measuring…
on “A Philosophy Professor's Final Class (2023)” ↗I've read Wikipedia about William James, which includes a quote from "Pragmatism". It indeed seams to state the same you are claiming. That's how I perceive the argument: We assume there is no absolute truth. (This is ex-ante, an assumption you can't argue about that.) Therefore…
on “The Vatican observatory looks to the heavens” ↗