The pragmatic theory of truth as developed by Peirce, James, and Dewey — John Shaqi
The pragmatic theory of truth as developed by Peirce, James, and DeweyGeyer, Denton Loring
Philosophy
The pragmatic theory of truth as developed by Peirce, James, and Dewey
Geyer, Denton Loring
Dewey, John, 1859-1952; James, William, 1842-1910; Peirce, Charles S. (Charles Sanders), 1839-1914; Pragmatism
Now it can be shown, first, that there is a difference between knowing
and mere presence in consciousness. If the smell is simply displaced
by a felt movement, and this in turn is displaced by the enjoyment of
the rose, in such a way that there is no experience of connection
between the three stages of the process,--that is, without the
appearance of memory or anticipation,--then "such an experience
neither is, in whole or in part, a knowledge". "Acquaintance is
presence honored by an escort; presence is introduced as familiar, or
an association springs up to greet it. Acquaintance always implies a
little friendliness; a trace of re-knowing, of anticipatory welcome or
dread of the trait to follow.... To be a smell (or anything else) is
one thing, to be _known_ as a smell, another; to be a 'feeling' is one
thing, to be _known_ as a 'feeling' is another. The first is
thinghood; existence indubitable, direct; in this way all things _are_
that are in 'consciousness' at all. The second is _reflected_ being,
things indicating and calling for other things--something offering the
possibility of truth and hence of falsity. The first is genuine
immediacy; the second (in the instance discussed) a pseudo-immediacy,
which in the same breath that it proclaims its immediacy smuggles in
another term (and one which is unexperienced both in itself and in its
relation) the subject of 'consciousness', to which the immediate is
related.... To be acquainted with a thing is to be assured (from the
standpoint of the experience itself) that it is of such and such a
character; that it will behave, if given an opportunity, in such and
such a way; that the obviously and flagrantly present trait is
associated with fellow traits that will show themselves if the leading
of the present trait is followed out. To be acquainted is to
anticipate to some extent, on the basis of previous experience". (pp.
81, 82).
Besides mere existence, there is another type of experience which is
often confused with knowledge,--a type which Dewey calls the
'cognitive' as distinct from genuine knowledge or the 'cognitional'.
In this experience "we retrospectively attribute intellectual force
and function to the smell". This involves memory but not anticipation.
As we look back from the enjoyment of the rose, we can say that in a
sense the odor meant the rose, even though it led us here blindly.
That is, if the odor suggests the finding of its cause, without
specifying what the cause is, and if we then search about and find the
rose, we can say that the odor meant the rose in the sense that it
actually led to the discovery of it. "Yet the smell is not cognitional
because it did not knowingly intend to mean this, but is found, after
the event, to have meant it". (p. 84).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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