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Pragmatism (The Works of William James)

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I rate this work 5 stars because of its immense influence on today's common ways of thinking and its importance in understanding the rise of science and capitalism in America.

James challenges philosophers of all ilks to give us a net value to their systems; that is, how do they affect human life or make the world we know better or worse for us? 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, e.g., 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 by James's line of thought.

Nevertheless, the book is important to read 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. We need James's Pragmatism to understand ourselves today.

This series of popular lectures James gave in 1909 presents a very approachable introduction to James' thoughts about pragmatism. Though I am no fan of his philosophical views, I enjoy reading James, and this, especially the first couple lectures, is an enjoyable and short discussion of his ideas. The lecture format forces him to present his views in very digestible sections. James, however, is the master of the understatement; what he says is clear enough, but you may want a secondary source to see the real implications of his views. Kudos to Dover for a great selection for their thrift series!

In a certain view the history of western philosophy can be viewed as the search for truth(s) and systems of thought and action derivable from those truths. This pursuit for "First Principles" has brought us to the trenches of WW1 and the giant socio-economic experiements of Stalinist Russia, Maoist China and the Khmer Rouge's Cambodia. As Keynes pointed out philsophical writings have more power than we know. The failure to establish these systems led, in the late 19th century, to the emergence of more contingent and nihlistic systems, e.g. Wittgenstein. Or the inter-war French philsophical conclusions that everything is absurd. James would reply well it exists so it can't be absurd and your failure to deal with that shows a lack of faith and courage. (the book to read is Barzun's 'From Dawn to Decadence - not just highly recommended but Six Stars on the failures of Western culture to rise to the challenges of the 20th century).

Now with all that background as setup, and picking up what some of the other reviewers have to say, James offers an entirely different approach not based on absolutes but rather on the process of building truth. He's an excellent writer though his depth of thought is often disguised by the simplicity and 'downhominess' of his expression. What he constructs, in language reminiscant of Hemingway or Hogan on Golf, is a systematic view on achieving "Truth" based on what we can know, the relationships built up from earlier conclusions and testing those. It seems that his late 19th century American slang disguises some of this all too well. If one substitutes implications and consequences for his use of phrases like 'how does it pay out' the material moves forward in time and interpretation.

What James appears to have acheived, to me, is the first serious consideration of a constructed and dynamic philsophical system that evolves based on both external facts and it's own workings yet also carries the burdens and benefits of insisting on strong rules for construction and truth testing. He applies this system to many of the major and daily conundrums we face in our lives while also tackling many of the major paradoxes, at least implicitly, of modern philosphy.

To close the loop if James subtle and nuanced philsophy had been more widely understood we might not have avoided the disasters of various absolutist systems. But we would be in a better position to deal with the post catasrophe consequences and achieve a more balanced, courageous and forward-looking approach to things. In fact one could argue that what James does is put a systematic approach in place, based on methods and processes, and an admission that this is a pluralistic not monlithic universe where Truth is contingent. If you like he has adapted the scientific method, or engineering analysis, to philosophy and done so in such a way that a lot of groundwork is laid for the rest of us.

In his 1909 book Pragmatism, William James attempts to reconcile the grim eschatology of empiricism with the noble incentives of religion. James sets the stage by defining empiricists as "tough-minded" realists, deducing truth solely from material experience, and rationalists as "tender-minded" religious types, virtuous but prone to dogmatic thinking and an unverifiable belief in oneness. His answer to what he calls this "present dilemma of philosohy" is pragmatism, a bridging doctrine that seeks to value a "scientific loyatly to facts, and willingness to take account of them,...but also the old confidence in human values and the resultant spontaineity, whether of the relifious or of the romantic type." James posits that in order for truth to be truth, it must have "cash-value." He states, "The true is the name of whatever proves itself to be good in the way of belief, and good, too, for definite, assignable reasons." Simply put, James feels strongly that there must be a verifiable correlation between what we believe and what we experience. A righteous starting point.
Pragmatism is a stimulating read, and with his background in psychology, James delves profoundly into the rationalizations of human thinking. Despite its bold statements, the book has a kindly tone, and the author's earnest attempts to convince are without academic snideness or scorn. But as perceptive as Pragmatism is at times, James inevitably comes off as just an empiricist with a heart, as sort of a materialist's "compassionate conservative." Robert Frost biographer Jay Parini says that James was "trying to have his cake and eat it too" and inconsistencies do arise. Although abhorring a priori reasoning, James writes in the last chapter, "In the end it is our faith and not our logic that decides such questions, and I deny the right of any pretended logic to veto my own faith."
As for reconciling empiricism with religion, James does so by what would be called in twenty-first century business-speak as "moving the goal posts." He refuses to consider salvation and truth as absolute or universal, but believes them to be melioristic, ever shifting and contingent of the efforts of men. James regards truth as more of a plastic process than a promise, and the belief in God as useful--if it has value. As straight forward and pragmatic as James aims to be, there seems to lie beneath his arguments the unsettling thought that religion is a self-duping but necessary enterprise--that religious faith is true only to the degree that it gives us moral support in a harsh empirical world. In the final analysis William James can't seem to shake the fervor of his age that empirical science would supply all the answers concerning truth and man.

Anyone who has read "The Metaphysical Club" and reawakened their interest in American thought will find this an excellent next book. James' ebulent personality and wit make this book an easy read.

William James is undoubtedly a great thinker. And he undoubtedly loves life, and loves mankind. This much is clear in his work - his sense of humor, insight, and approach to his topic are all evidence of this. James, however, cannot rightly be called a philosopher. While his ideas are insightful, and the abundance of them proves him a great thinker, his method of presentation and discussion falls short of the demanding science of western philosophy. James does not create a foundation of simple ideas and build upon them; he simply introduces a broad idea, and then does not even support it, but assumes that it is self evident.

Despite his flaws as a philosopher however, his work is a pleasure to read and, knowing its flaws, one can enjoy this book for what it is - a series of ideas and thoughts that do form a rather elegant approach to life, if not a true philosophy.

A very intelligent work. However, James fails to provide a sufficient foundation for his philosophy. This is so because he focuses on human actions and results to the exclusion of the beliefs that initiate such actions. However, it is necessary to examine the philosophical and theological foundations in order to understand where conflicts between beliefs, world views, etc., could occur in practice. James' thoughts do not help much in this regard.

As such, I place him in the class of great thinkers, but not in the higher class of philosophers.

The superlatives trip off my tongue when I think about this book. In it Harvard psychologist and philosopher Willaim James propounds the substance (not much) and import (massive!) of his philosophical method: pragmatism. He got this method from his lifelong friend Charles Sanders Peirce and it boils down, quite simply, to doing nothing which doesn't make a difference in terms of outcomes; what works is what matters. Not that this simplicity boils over into simplisticness. James is an astute operator and is aware of what criticism shall come his way. Thus, in this series of lectures he addresses all the realist, essentialist and foundationalist philosophers with their abstract, universal and idealistic arguments and demonstrates that it is the pragmatist who takes our obligations seriously. The pragmatist is guided by the experience of the senses and the working body of truth each person carries with them and these are no small trifles. The pragmatist is not one who is free to make anything up (contrast the external realist who can say anything and claim what they like since its beyond verification / falsification).

So read this classic piece of American philosophical writing and be entertained, educated and edified all in one go. It has changed my approach to life.

PoSTmodERnFoOL

Depending on who you ask, american philosophy is an oxymoron. But the pragmatic schools of James, Pierce, and Dewey are truly a challenging and significant to philosophy as a whole.

James has a very peculiar way of viewing experience, for a philosopher, and a sort of colossal respect for truth that rivals Kant's. This book approaches in a very systematic way the problems that we have dealing with truth and its inherent elusiveness. Both Empiricist and Rationalist philosophical attitudes run aground when dealing with reality; certain aspects of both are better at dealing with particular facets of experince. That is, some of the "work" better than other in certain situations. (As James notes, Hegel or Kant have done little to advance any scientific knowledge-- but a wholly empirical philosophy can give offer us no end to strive towards that we will find humanly compelling) James makes the middle road between the two, and offers the philosphically radical suggestion that the closest to any "Truth" as a big T we are going to get is going to be through our examination of how particular notions of truth produce for us better explanations of experience. In fact (as James later elaborates) the best philosophy we can find is one that will be able to unstiffen the mind an be able to deal with various different truths. Plural.

If you can't see from this outlook, James's notion of philosophy is profoundly democratic. His philosophy is one of the best attempts I've ever encountered to form some sort of coherent system that accomodates mutually exclusive forms of truth. And such a system, also, is American Democracy.

The reviewers below fall into an error on this account by saying James apologizes for scoundrels. He does not; in fact, he was thoroughly anti-imperialist and in case we havn't noticed Nazism and Stalinism are systems built on Monistic systems of Truth. Look it up. Read the book, it's a classic, maybe the classic, of American Philosophy. A fitting testament to james' enduring genius

In the book Pragmatism William James offers one of his finest works; articulate, clear and funny. (See for example his analysis of monism and pluralism). One often wonders if writers who fail to speak plainly have anything to say. Happily James is the clearest of them all. It is especially amusing to see him poke fun at philosophers who take their cherished positions far too seriously.

It would be a mistake to misconstrue this work as the basis of a philsophy for living or even a pragmatic school of thought per se. Rather (as stated in the text) it offers a fresh analysis of major problems, including determinism, monism, pluralism, and reductionism. Full of wit and refreshing humor, this is a first-rate, brilliantly written guide to timeless issues in philosophy.