My object in this paper is to discuss some of the things which Prof.
William James says about truth in the recent book, to which he has
given the above name.[1] In Lecture VI he professes to give an account
of a theory, which he calls "the pragmatist theory of truth;" and he
professes to give a briefer preliminary account of the same theory in
Lecture II. Moreover, in Lecture VII, he goes on to make some further
remarks about truth. In all these Lectures he seems to me to make
statements to which there are very obvious objections; and my main
object is to point out, as clearly and simply as I can, what seem to me
to be the principal objections to some of these statements.
We may, I think, distinguish three different things which he seems
particularly anxious to assert about truth.
(I) In the first place, he is plainly anxious to assert some connection
between truth and "verification" or "utility." Our true ideas, he seems
to say, are those that "work," in the sense that they are or can be
"verified," or are "useful."
(II) In the second place, he seems to object to the view that truth is
something "static" or "immutable." He is anxious to assert that truths
are in some sense "mutable."
(III) In the third place, he asserts that "to an unascertainable
extent our truths are man-made products" (p. 242).
To what he asserts under each of these three heads there are, I think,
serious objections; and I now propose to point out what seem to me to
be the principal ones, under each head separately.
(I)
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