The Pragmatic Theory of Truth As Developed by Peirce, James & Dewey - Geyer, D. L

THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH
AS DEVELOPED BY PEIRCE, JAMES,

AND DEWEY
DEN TON L. GEYER

}
THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH AS DEVELOPED

BY PEIRCE, JAMES, AND DEWEY
BY
DENTON LORING GEYER

f/
B.A. University of Wisconsin, 1910

M.A. University of Wisconsin, 1911
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN PHILOSOPHY
THE GP.ADUAvrE
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
1914
CONTENTS
PACE
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER I.
THE PRAGMATIC DOCTRINE AS ORIGINALLY PRO-

POSED BY PEIRCE 5
CHAPTER II.
THE INTERPRETATION GIVEN TO PRAGMATISM BY
JAMES ..< i/
JAMES'S EXPOSITION OF PEIRCE 17
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRAGMATIC DOCTRINE

THROUGH THE EARLIER WRITINGS OF JAMES 2O
THE THEORY OF TRUTH IN TRAGMATISM' AND THE

MEANING OF TRUTH' 26
The Ambiguity of 'Satisfaction' 26
The Relation of Truth to Utility 29

The Relation of Satisfaction to Agreement and
Consistency 32
CHAPTER III.
THE PRAGMATIC DOCTRINE. Ap$T?EORTH BY DEWEY 35

"THE EXPERIMENTAL, THEORY. OF* KNOWLEDGE" 35
CONTRAST BET'WEEN' JA'MES -A^D -BEWEY 38
CHAPTER IV.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 41
MWLIOGRAPHY .
44
THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUT
AS DEVELOPED BY PEIRCE JAMES,
AND DEWEY.
INTRODUCTORY.
This thesis attempts to trace the growth of the pragmatic doctrine
of truth through the works of its three most famous advocates in
America.
An examination of Peirce's initial statement of pragmatism is fol-
lowed by a discussion of his objections to the meaning put upon his
doctrine by his would-be disciples, and his resort, in order to save
himself from these 'perversions', to a renaming of his theory. Some
evident contradictions in his different principles are pointed out.
The changing position of William James is then followed through
magazine articles and books appearing successively during a period
of about thirty years. One finds here a gradually but continually
widening divergence from the rationalistic theories, which culminates
finally in the much-quoted extreme statements of the book 'Pragmatism'.
The few subsequently published references to truth seem to consist
largely of defenses or retractions of the tenets there set forth. As
has been so often said, William James was too sympathetic toward the
doctrines of other men to maintain a consistent doctrine of his own.
His best work, like that of the -higher literary type to which he ap-
proached, was to transcribe and interpret the feelings of other men.

His genius lay in the clearness with which he could translate these
ideas and the lucid fashion in which he could cut to the heart of
ambiguities in them. With the highest and most sincere admiration for
the spirit of James' labors in philosophy and psychology, the writer is
unable to find there permanent contributions to the solution of the
particular problem which we have before us here, the problem of
truth. In his splendid protest against all static theories, he seems to
have accepted pragmatism for what it was noj: rather than for what it
was. It was not a cut-and-dried system leaving no room for individual-
ity, and that this was
one of his strongest reasons for accepting it is
shown by his asking again and again: "If this (pragmatism) is not
truth, what is?" He was attempting to find a theory almost any
theory, one thinks sometimes which would serve as an alternative to
the older doctrines so incompatible with his temperament.
It is interesting to note that the frequent protests made by Peirce
against the turn given his ideas by his followers are always directed
against the work of James and Schiller, and never, so far as I have
3
s
340930
THEORY OF TRUTH
been able to ascertain, against that of Dewey. It therefore seems
worth while to undertake a direct comparison between the views of
Peirce and Dewey. This comparison, then, occupies the latter part of
the thesis, with the result, it may be said at once, that Dewey's work
is found to be
very closely related to the original formulation of prag-
matism as made by Peirce.
The excellent historical sketches of pragmatism which have ap-
1
peared during the last five years have been somewhat broader in scope
than the present treatise, for they have usually described the dvelopment
of all the pragmatic doctrines in the mass while the emphasis here is
placed on the intensive treatment of a single doctrine, and this doctrine
is followed, moreover, through a limited number of its expounders.
Further, almost all such sketches are taken up for the most part in
showing how pragmatism grew out of the older doctrines or in con-
trasting it with various alternative theories, while the thing attempted
here is, again, a careful comparison of the views of three thinkers
within the School itself w ith of course the writer's own reaction to
r
these views. has thus seemed best to undertake "no (necessar '!;/
It
fragmentary) treatment of truth as 'intuition' or 'coherence' or 'cor-

respondence' or the rest.
"^v.- General criticism of the pragmatic theory of truth, as is evident
to anyone who has followed the controversy, has been principally
directed against the more 'radical' statements of James and Schiller.
Whether this is merely because these champions of the theory are more
extreme, or whether they are really more prone to errors in their
reasoning, we need not determine here. But it is worth pointing out
that, on the other hand, if Peirce and Dewey were to be taken as the
truer representatives of pragmatism a large part of the flood of recent
criticism would be irrelevant. This is by no means to say that the
work of Peirce and Dewey is above criticism it is merely to call attention
;
to the fact that most of the criticism of pragmatism is directed

against principles which these two men do not happen to hold. An
understanding of the doctrine in its more conservative forms, however,
is certainly on the increase, and we are seldom nowadays burdened with
refutations of such alleged pragmatisms as that anything is true which

it is pleasant to believe or that any theory of procedure is true which
happens to turn out well.
1
See for example an
article by Alfred Lloyd on "Conformity, Consistency, aid
Truth" Journal of Philosophy for May 22, 1913; also Boodin's Truth and Reality,
in the
Caldwell's Pragmatism and Idealism, De Laguna's Dogmatism and Evolution, Hurra 's .
Pragmatism, Moore's Pragmatism and Its Critics, and others.

;HAPTER i.
rMATIC DOCTRINE AS ORIGINALLY PROP<

BY PEIRCK.
Pragmatism has been described as an attitude of mind, as a method
f
investigation, and as a theory of truth. The attitude is that of
oking forward to outcomes rather than back to origins. The
is the use of actual or possible outcomes of our ideas to determine these
ideas' realmeaning. The theory of truth defines the truth of our

in terms of the outcomes of these beliefs.
Pragmatism as a principle of method, like the Mendelian laws of
heredity, lay for decades in oblivion. It was brought to light and to
the world's notice in 1898 by William James, who by his wonderful

literary styleimmediately gave it the widest currency. The doctrine
was originally proposed in 1878 by C. S. Peirce in a paper for, the
Popular Science Monthly entitled "How To Make Our Ideas Clear."
This article was the second of six on the general topic, "Illustrations
of the Logic of Science." The other articles of the series were re-
spectively called"The Fixation of Belief," "The Doctrine of Chances,"
"The Probability of Induction," "The Order of Nature," and "Induc-
tion, Deduction, and Hypothesis."
In the famous discussion of How To Make Our Ideas Clear,
Peirce pointed out that by a clear idea is meant, according to the logicians,
one which -will 'be recognized wherever it is met with, so that no other
will be mistaken for it. But since to do this without exception is im-
possible to human beings, and since to have such acquaintance with the
idea as to have lost all hesitancy in recognizing it in ordinary cases
amounts only to a subjective feeling of mastery which may be entirely
mistaken, they supplement the idea of 'clearness' with that of 'distinct-
ness'. A distinct idea is defined as one that contains nothing which is
not clear. By the contents of an idea logicians understand whatever is
contained in its definition, so that an idea is distinctly apprehended,
according to them, when we can give a precise definition of it, in abstract
terms. Here the professional logicians leave the subject, but it is easy
to show that the doctrine that familiar use and abstract distinctness make
the perfection of apprehension, "has its only true place in philosophies
which have long been extinct", and it is now time to formulate a method
of attaining "a more perfect clearness of thought such as we see and
admire in the thinkers of our own time".
The action of thought is excited by the irritation of a doubt, and
peases when belief is attained; so that the production of belief is the
sole function of thought. As thought appeases the irritation of a doubt,
5
6 THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH
which is the motive for thinking, it relaxes and comes to rest for a
moment when belief is reached. But belief is a rule for action, and
itsapplication requires further thought and further doubt, so that at
the same time that it is a stopping place it is also a new starting place
for thought. .The final upshot of thinking is the exercise of volition.
'The essence of belief is the establishment of a habit, and different
beliefs are distinguished by the different modes of action to which they
give rise. If beliefs do not differ in this respect, if they appease the
same doubt by producing the same rule of action, then no more differ-
ences in the manner of consciousness of them can make them different
beliefs, any more than playing a tune in different keys is playing a
different tune."
Imaginary distinctions are made very frequently, it is true, between
beliefs which differ only in their mode of expression. Such false dis-
tinctions do as much harm as the confusion of beliefs really different.
"One singular deception of this sort, which often occurs, is to mistake
the sensation produced by our own unclearness of thought for a char-
acter of the object we are thinking. Instead of perceiving that the
obscurity is purely subjective, we fancy that we contemplate a quality
of the object which is essentially mysterious and if our conception be
;
afterwards presented to us in a clear form we do not recognize it as the

same, owing to the absence of the feeling of unintelligibility An-
other such deception is to mistake a mere difference in the grammatical
construction ol two words for a distinction between the ideas they
express From all these sophisms we shall be perfectly safe so long
y
as we reflect that the whole function of thought is to produce habits
ofjaction ;
and that whatever
connected with a thought, but irrelevant
is
to its purpose, is it, but no part of it".

an accretion to
"To develop a meaning we have, therefore, simply to determine
hat habits it produces, for what a thing means is simply what habits
it involves. Xo\v the identity of a habit depends on how it might lead
us to act, not merely under such circumstances as are likely to arise,
but under such as might possibly occur, no matter how improbable
Thus we come down to what is tangible and practical as the root of
every real distinction of thought, no matter how subtle it may be; and
there is no distinction so line as to consist in anything but a possible
difference in practice".
As an example, consider the doctrine of transsubstantiation. Are
the elements of the sacrament flesh and blood ''only in a tropical sense'
or are they literally just that? Now "we have no conception of wine
except what may enter into a belief either, (i) that this, that, or the
other is wine, or (2) that wine possesses certain properties. Such be-
liefs are nothing but self-notifications that we should, upon occasion,
THE PRAGMATISM OF PEIRCE 7
act in regard to such things as we believe to be wine according to the
qualities which we believe wine to possess. The occasion of sucrFaction

would be some sensible perception, the motive of it to produce some
sensible result. Thus our action has exclusive reference to what affects
our senses, our habit has the same bearing as our action, our belief the
same as our habit, our conception the same as our belief and we can ;
consequently mean nothing by wine but what has certain effects, direct
or indirect, upon the senses and to talk of something as having all
;
the sensible characters of wine, yet being in reality blood, is senseless

jargon Our idea of anything is our idea of its sensible effects and' ;
if we fancy that we have any other, we deceive ourselves, and mistake
a mere sensation accompanying the thought for a part of the thought

itself".
"It appears, then, that the rule for attaining clearness of appre-
hension is as follows: Consider what effects, (which might conceivably
have practical beariinjs^wc conceive the object of our conception to
have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our con-
ception of the object". (Italics mine).
An application of this method to a conception which particularly
concerns logic occupies the last section of the article, a use of the
method to make clear our conception of "reality". Considering clear-
ness in the sense of familiarity, no idea could be clearer than this, for
everyone uses it with perfect confidence. Clearness in the sense of
definitionis only slightly more difficult, "we may define the real as
that whose characters are independent of what anybody may think
them to be". 'But however satisfactory this is as a definition, it does
not by any means make our idea of reality perfectly clear. "Here,
then, let us apply our rules. According to like every other
them,jrealitv,|
quality, consists in the peculiar sensible effects which things partaking
of it produce. The only effect which real things have is to cause belief,
for all the sensations which they excite emerge into consciousness, in
the form of beliefs. The question therefore is, how is true belief (or
belief in the real) distinguished from false belief (belief in fiction)",
Briefly this may be answered by saying that the true belief is the one
which will be arrived at after a complete examination of all the evidence.
"That opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed to by all who
investigate, is what we mean by the truth, and the object represented
in this opinion is the real." (Note: "Fate means merely that which
is sure to come true, and can nohow be avoided".) The real thus
depends indeed upon what is ultimately thought about it, but not upon
what any particular person thinks about it. This is clearly brought
\
out in contrast to non-scientific investigation, where personal equation
counts for a great deal more. "It is hard to convince a follower of
the a priori method by adducing facts but show him that an opinion
;
that he is defending is inconsistent with what he has laid down else-

where, and he will be very apt to retract it. These minds do not seem
to believe that disputation is ever to cease they seem to think that
;
the opinion which is natural for one man is not so for another, and that
belief will, consequently, never be settled. In contenting themselves with
fixing their own opinions by a method which would lead another man
to a different result, they betray their feeble hold upon the conception
of what truth is. On the other hand, all the followers of science are
fully persuaded that the processes of investigation, if only pushed far
enough, will give one certain solution to every question to which they
can be applied. One man may investigate the velocity of light by study-
ing the transits of Venus and the aberration of the stars another by the
;
opposition of Mars and eclipses of Jupiter's satellites a third by the

;
method of Fizian. ...... .They may at first obtain different results, but as
each perfects his method and his processes, the results will move
steadily together toward 'a destined center. So with all scientific re-
search. Different minds may set out with the most antagonistic views,
but the process of investigation carries them by a force outside of them-
selves to one and the same conclusion". This"' conclusion, to be sure,
may be long postponed, and might indeed be preceded by a false belief

which should be accepted universally. But "the opinion which would
finally result from investigation does not depend on how anybody .may
actually think The reality of that which is real does depend on
the real fact that the investigation is destined to lead, at last, if eon-
tinned long enough, to a belief in* it".
It will be seen that this article does not intend to put forward anv
new theory of truth. It is simply an attempt at expounding a new
theory of desires to describe a new way of clearing

[clearness. ^Peirce
up metaphysical disputes, the method, namely, of finding the meaning
of each question by reducing it to its experimental consequences.
For Peirce a doctrine could be perfectly clear and yet false. This
would be the case where one had a vivid idea of all the outcomes in
experience involved by the idea, but yet was unable to prophesy anv
outcome that should be vertified by future fact. Our idea of the object
would not in that case 'correspond to the reality' in the sense of giving
us a belief which could be Verified by all investigators'.
Peirce, then, instead of having a radical and startling theory of
truth to propose, would consider himself an ultra-conservative on the
s question of what shall be called truth. Approaching the matter from
the standpoint of a scientist, (for he says in another connection that
he had at this time spent most of his life in a laboratory), he is con-
cerned only with an attempt to apply "the fruitful methods of science"
to "the barren
field of metaphysics". For metaphysics seems to him
very much need of outside help. His different conception ITf ~the
in
two disciplines may be seen from the following passage. In contrast
io philosophy, he is eulogizing the natural sciences, "where investigators,
instead of condemning each the work of the others as misdirected from
beginning to end, co-operate, stand upon one another's shoulders, and
multiply incontestible where every observation is repeated,
results ;
and isolated observations count for little where every hypothesis that
;
merits attention is subjected to severe but fair examination, and only

after the predictions to which it leads have been remarkably borne out
by experience is trusted at all, and when only provisionally where a ;
radically false step is rarely taken, even the most faulty of those
theories which gain credence being true in their main experiental
predictions".
It is in a desire to elevate metaphysics to somewhere near this
Ic^vel that Peirce proposes his new theory of clearness, believing that
much of the useless disputation of philosophy, as he sees it, will end
when we know exactly what we are talking about according to this test.
On. the question of truth he might indeed Tiave referred to another
of his early articles, where the same idea of the independence of truth v
from individual opinion is brought out. The much-quoted paper on

''How To Make Our Ideas Clear" was, as we have noted, the second
of a series called "Illustrations of the Logic of Science". In order to
êt his doctrine of truth more adequately before us, we may turn for
a moment to the first article of the series, the paper called "The Fixation
of Belief".
Here Peirce begins by pointing out four methods for fixing belief.
-In the or 'method of tenacity', one simply picks out the belief
first,
which for some reason he desires, and holds to it by closing his eyes
to all evidence pointing the other way. The second, or the 'method of
authority', is the same except that the individual is replaced by the
state. third, or 'a priori method', makes a thing true when it is
The
'agreeable to reason'. But this sort of truth varies between persons,
for what is agreeable to reason is more or less a matter of taste.
In contrast with these, and especially w ith
7
the a priori method, a \,
method must be discovered which will determine truth entirely apart

from individual opinion. This is the method of science. That is, "To
satisfy our doubt it is necessary that a method should be found by
which our beliefs may be caused by nothing human, but by some external
permanency by something upon which our thinking has no effect
It must be something which affects, or might affect, every man. And,
though these affections are necessarily as various as are individual
conditions, yet the method must be such that the ultimate conclusion
io THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH
of every man shall be the same. Such is the method of science. Its
fundamental hypothesis, restated in more familiar language, is this :
There are real things whose characters are entirely independent of our
opinions about them those realities affect our senses according to regular
;
laws, and, though our sensations are as 'different as our relations to the
objects, yet, by taking advantage of the laws of perception, we can
ascertain by reasoning how things really are, and any man, if he have
sufficient experience, and reason enough about it, will be led to one
true conclusion. The new conception here involved is that of reality.
It may be asked how I know that there are any realities. If this
hypothesis is the sole support of my method of inquiry, my method of

inquiry must not be used to support my hypothesis. The reply is this :
i. If investigation cannot be regarded as proving that there are real
things, it at least does not lead to a contrary conclusion but the method
;
and conception on which it is based remain ever in harmony. No

doubts of the method, therefore, arise with its practice, as is the case
with all the others. 2. The feeling which gives rise to any method of
fixing belief is a dissatisfaction at two repugnant propositions. But
here already is a vague concession that there is some one thing to
which a proposition should conform Nobody, therefore, can really
cloubt that there are realities, or, if he did, doubt would not be a source
of dissatisfaction. The hypothesis, therefore, is one which every mind
admits. So that the social impulse does not cause me to doubt it.
3. Everybody uses the scientific method about a great many things,
and only ceases to use it when he does not know how to apply it.
4. Experience of the method has not led me to doubt it, but, on the
contrary, scientific investigation has had the most wonderful triumphs
in the way of settling opinion. These afford the explanation of my not
doubting the method or the hypothesis which it supposes", (p. 12)
The method of science, therefore, is procedure based on the
hypothesis that there are realities independent of what we may think
them to be. This, it seems, is what Peirce regards as the fundamental
principle of the 'logic of science'. This principle, stated here in the
first paper, is again stated as we have seen, towards th close of the
second paper. There he says again, "All the followers of science are
fully persuaded that the processes of investigation, if only pushed far
enough, will give one certain solution to every question to which they
can be applied Different minds may set out with the most an-
tagonistic views, but the progress of investigation carries them by a
force outside of themselves to one and the same conclusion This
tfreat law is embodied in the conception of truth and reality. That
opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed to by air who investigate.
THE PRAGMATISM OF PEIRCE
what we mean by truth, and the object represented in this opinion

This is the way I would explain reality", (p. 300).
It iswell at this point to call attention to a distinction. It is to be

noticed that in the first paper and in the latter part of the second he
is talking of a method for attaining truth. But in the body of the
second paper he is talking of a method for attaining clearness. These
two should be kept distinct in our minds. The use of the various
methods described for finding the velocity of light were endeavors to
find the truth, not to make our ideas clear. Clearness and truth Peirce
believes to have no invariable connection. He says in ending the article
on "How To Make Our Ideas Clear", "It is certainly important to
know how to make our ideas clear, but they may be ever so clear
without being true". (p. 302, italics mine.) There are, then, two
methods under consideration : the scientific method for reaching truth,
with its postulate that there are independent realities, and the logical
method for securing clearness, which as he has just stated, has no
necessary connection with truth.
Now I should like to point out, in criticism, that these two methods
cannot be used togethefir, or rather that the postulate of the 'scientific
method' will not endure the test proposed by the 'method for clearness'.
The scientific method postulates a reality unaffected by our opinions
about it. But when we apply the method for clearness to this reality it
seems to vanish.
The process is this Peirce, as we will remember, begins his dis-
:
cussion of the real by defining it as "that whose characters are indepen-

dent of what anybody may think them to be." Then passing on to
apply his method for clearness he finds that "reality, like every other
quality, consists in the peculiar sensible effects which things partaking
of it produce", and adds that "the only effects which real things have
is to cause belief, for all the sensations which they excite emerge into
consciousness in the form of beliefs". Reality is the sum of its sensible
effects, its sensible effects are beliefs, so reality is a sum of beliefs.
Xow, reality cannot be the sum of all beliefs regarding the real,
because reality is defined in another connection as the object represented
by a true opinion, and a true opinion is that which is fated to be agreed
to after an investigation is complete. Reality then can consist only in
certain selected beliefs. But if reality is this set of ultimately-adopted v
beliefs, what is truth itself? For truth has been defined as the beliefs
which will be ultimately adopted.
In other words, when Peirce applies his method for clearness to

the concept of reality, he reduces reality to truth. He identifies the two.
Then there remains no independent reality which stands as a cJicck
on truth. And this was the postulate of his method of science.
Since the application of his own method for clearness eliminates
reality,it looks as though Peirce must abandon either this method or
the postulate of science. He cannot use both the method for clearness
and the postulate of the method of science.
We must remember that Peirce was a pioneer in this movement.
And making the transition from the older form of thought, he
in
occasionally uses a word both in the old sense and in the new. Such
would seem to be his difficulty with the word 'reality', which he uses
both in the newer sense which the method for clearness would show
it to have, and in the old orthodox sense of something absolute. When
he says "reality consists of the peculiar sensible effects which things
partaking of it produce", he seems to have the two senses of the word

in one sentence. Reality consists in sensible effects, or it is that which is
produced somehow by means of our senses. But, when things partake

of reality, reality exists in advance and produces those effects. Reality
is conceived both as the things produced and as the producer of these
things.
Asomewhat similar difficulty .occurs, as I may point out again in
criticism, in the use of the words 'meaning' and 'belief. Here the con-
fusion is caused, not by using a word in two senses, as in the case of
'reality',. but by using both the words 'meaning' and 'belief in the same
sense. Peirce defines both 'meaning' and 'belief as a sum of habits,
r
I
and indicates no difference between them.
~"
Thus he says of meaning, "There is no distinction of meaning so
anything but a possible difference in practice". (2^3)
fine as to consist in
"To develop its meaning, we have, therefore, simply to determine what
habits it produces, for what a thing means is simply what habits it
involves", (p. 292). .
But he says similarly of belief, "Belief involves the establishment

in our nature of a rule of action, or, say for short, of a habit". "Since
it is a new starting point for
belief is a rule for action, thought". "The
essence of belief is the establishment of a habit, and different beliefs
are distinguished by the different modes of action to which they give
rise", (p. 291).
Now agreed that instead of defining belief and meaning
it will be
in terms of the same thing and thus identifying them, we ought sharply
to distinguish between them. To have the meaning of a thing is not
at all the same as to believe in it. Thus one may have clearly in mind
the meaning of centaurs or of fairies or of any of the characters of
mythology without in the slightest degree believing in them. Defining
these things in terms of sensible "effects, we could say that we know
their meaning in the sense that we understand which sensible effects

would be involved if they did exist. But to have a belief about flTem
would mean that we would expect these sensible effects. In other words,
a belief involves the possibility of fulfillment or frustration of ex-
pectation. To believe in anything is therefore a distinct step beyond
understanding it.
In inserting these theories of reality and of belief in this discussion

of a method for clear apprehension, Peirce is passing beyond a doctrine
of clearness and involving himself in a doctrine of truth. have We
seen that he does not seem to be able to maintain the postulated reality
underlying his description of the scientific method for attaining truth.
And it now seems that he is in equal difficulty with belief. If meaning
is simply a sum of habits, belief is not simply a sum of habits, for the
two are not the same. And if, as we have said, the quality that dis-
tinguishes belief from meaning is the fact that it involves expectation,
then we appear to be on the verge of a new theory of truth, a theory
saying that truth is simply the fulfillment of these expectations.
Such, we may note, is the interpretation that Dewey puts upon the
pragmatic method, such is the theory of truth that he finds involved
in it.
The interpretations of pragmatism which came particularly to the

notice of Peirce, however, were those made byJames and Schiller, and
against these, we may say here, he made vigorous protest. These he
regarded as perversions of his doctrine. And he was so desirous of
indicating that his own theory of clearness involved for himself no such
developments as these, that, in order to make the distinctions clear, he
renamed his own doctrine.
His of dissent, appearing in The Monist in 1905, was
first article
directed mainly, however, against the looseness of popular usage. He

traces briefly the doctrine's growth. Referring back to his original
statement in 1878, he says of himself that he "framed the theory that a
conception, that is, the rational purpose of a word or other expression,
lies bearing upon the conduct of life so
exclusively in its conceivable ;
that, since obviously nothing that might not result from experiment can
have any direct bearing upon conduct, if one can define acurately all
the conceivably experimental phenomena which the affirmation or denial
of a concept could imply, one will have therein a complete definition of
the concept, and there is absolutely nothiny more in it. For this doctrine
he [Peirce, now speaking" of himself] invented the name of prag-
matism His word 'pragmatism' has gained general recognition in a
generalized sense that seems to argue power of growth and vitality.
The famed psychologist, James, first took it up, seeing that his 'radical
empiricism' substantially answered to the writer's definition, albeit with
a certain difference in point of view. Next the admirably clear and
brilliant thinker. Air. Ferdinand C. S. Schiller, casting about for a more
attractive name for the 'anthropomorphism' of his Riddle of the Sphin.r,
lit, in that most remarkable paper of his on Axioms as Postulates, upon
the designition 'pragmatism', which in its original sense was in generic

agreement with his own doctrine, for which he has since found the
more appropriate specification 'humanism', while he still retains prag-
matism in a somewhat wider sense. So far all went happily. But at
present the word begins to be met with occasionally in the literary
journals, where it gets abused in the merciless way that words have to
expect when they fall into literary clutches. Sometimes the manners
of the British have effloresced in scolding at the word as ill-chosen ill-
chosen, that is, to express some meaning that it was rather designed to
exclude. So, then, the writer, finding his bantling 'pragmatism' so
promoted, feels that it is time to kiss his child good-by and relinquish
it to its higher destiny while to serve the precise purpose of expressing
;
the original definition, he begs to announce the birth of the word

'pragmaticism', which is ugly enough to be safe from kidnappers",
(pp. 1 65-6).
Three years later Peirce published an article of much more out-
spoken protest, this time including in his repudiation the professional

philosophers as well as the popularists. Writing for the Hibbert Jour-
nal (v.7) he states his case as follows:
"About forty years ago my studies of Kant, Berkeley, and others
led me, after convincing myself that all thinking is performed in signs,
and that mediation takes the form of dialogue, so that it is proper to
speak of the 'meaning' of a concept, to conclude that to acquire full
mastery of that meaning it is requisite, in the first place, to learn to
recognize that concept under every disguise, through extensive famil-
iarity with instances of it. But this, after all, does not imply any true
understanding of it so that it is further requisite that, we should make
;
an abstract logical analysis of it into its ultimate elements, or as com-

plete an analysis as we can compass. But even so, we may still be
without any living comprehension of it and the only way to complete
;
our knowledge of its nature is to discover and recognize just what

habits of conduct a belief in the truth of the concept (of any conceivable
subject, and under any conceivable circumstances) would reasonably
develop that is to say, what habits would ultimately result from a suf-
;
ficient consideration of such truth. It is necessary to understand the

word 'conduct', here, in the broadest sense. If, for example, the predica-
tion of a given concept were to lead to our admitting that a given form
of reasoning concerning the subject of which it was affirmed was valid,
when it would not otherwise be valid, the recognition of that effect_Jn

our reasoning would decidedly be a habit of conduct". (p.ioS).
"
After referring to his own expositions he continues, But in
1897 Professor James remodelled the matter, and transmorgrified it into
a doctrine of philosophy, some parts of which I highly approved, while
other and more prominent parts I regarded, and still regard, as opposed
to sound logic.About the same time Professor Papirie discovered, to
the delight of the Pragmatist school, that this doctrine was incapable of
definition, which would certainly seem to distinguish it from every other
doctrine in whatever branch of science, I was coming to the conclusion
that my poor little maxim should be called by another name and I ac-
;
rdingly, in April 1905, renamed it Pragmaticism." (p. 109).

"My original essay, having been written for a popular monthly?
assumes, for no better reason than that real inquiry cannot begin until
a state of real doubt arises, and ends as soon as a real Belief is attained,
that a 'settlement of belief, or in other words, a state of satisfaction,
is that Truth, or the aim of inquiry, consists in.
all The reason I gave
for this was so flimsy, while the inference was so nearly the gist of Prag-
maticism, that I must confess the argument of that essay might be said
with some justice to beg the question. The first part of the essay is
occupied, however, with showing that, if Truth consists in satisfaction,
it cannot be any actual .satisfaction, but must be the satisfaction that
would ultimately be found if the inquiry were pushed to its ultimate and
indefeasible issue. This, I beg to point out, is a very different position...
from that of Mr. Schiller and the pragmatists of to-day Their
avowedly undefinable position, if it be not capable of logical char-
acterization, seems to me to be characterized by an angry hatred of
strict logic, and even a disposition to rate any exact thought which
interferes with their doctrine as all humbug. At the same time it seems
to me approximate acceptance of the Pragmaticistic
clear that their
principle, and even that very casting aside of difficult distinctions (al-
though I cannot approve of it), has helped them to a mightily clear dis-
cernment of some fundamental truths that other philosophers have seen
but through a mist, or most of them not at all. Among such truths, all
of them old, of course, yet acknowledged by few I reckon their denial
of necessitarianism their rejection of any 'consciousness' different from

;
a visceral or other external sensation ; acknowledgment that there

their
are, in a Pragmatistical sense, Real habits and their insistence upon
interpreting all hypostatic abstractions in terms of what they would
or might (not actually will) come to in the concrete. It seems to me a
pity that they should allow a philosophy so instinct with life to become
infected with seeds of death in such notions as that of the unreality of all
ideas of infinity and that of the mutability of truth, and in such con-
1 6 THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH
fusions of thought as that of active willing (willing to control thought,
to doubt,and to weigh reasons) with willing not to exert the will (willing
to believe)", (pp.in, 112).
The
difference between the position of Peirce and of James may be
stated in another way as constituted by the fact that James introduces
the factor of value as a criterion for meaning and for truth, while for
Peirce these elements did not enter the question at all. For James the
value of a belief is an apparent evidence for its truth, while for Peirce
value had no relation to truth. For an account of this development of
the pragmatic doctrine we pass on now to a discussion of James.
CHAPTER II.
THE INTERPRETATION GIVEN TO PRAGMATISM BY JAMES.
James uses the term 'pragmatism', as Peirce had done, to refer

first
to a method for attaining clearness. When, in 1898, he brought again

before the public the original article by Peirce, he was simply expound-
ing the Peircian doctrine without making any attempt to pass beyond it.
But, as we have just seen, he later gave it a construction, an interpretation
as a theory of truth, with which its originator could not agree. In this
chapter we may, therefore, look first at his exposition of the doctrine
of clearness, and after that, in order to understand James' development
of the doctrine into a theory of truth, we may turn back for a moment
to some of his previous publications on the question of truth. It will
then be possible to trace chronologically his developing attitude toward
the truth controversy. From this we may pass finally to an indication
of some of the difficulties in which he becomes involved. (~The most
important of these, it may be said again, is that he construes the test of
truth of an idea to be, not merely that the idea leads to expected conse- L^
quences, but that it leads to predominantly desirable consequences. The
outcomes which stand as evidence for truth are then not merely out- u-
comes bringing fulfilled expectations but outcomes bringing happiness^-
JAMES EXPOSITION OF PEIRCE.
James in expounding the doctrine of Peirce explains the pragmatic
principle as a method of investigating philosophic controversies, reducing
them to essentials (clear meanings), and selecting those worthy of dis-
1
cussion. "Suppose", he says, "that there are two different philosophical
maxims, or what not, which seem to con-
definitions, or propositions, or
tradict each other, and about which men dispute. If, by assuming the ;
truth of the one, you can foresee no practical consequence to anybody,

at any time or place, which is different from what you would foresee if
you assumed the truth of the other, why then the difference between the
two propositions is no real difference it is only a specious and verbal
difference, unworthy of future contention There can be no difference
which does not make a difference no difference in the abstract truth ~"~\
which does not express itself in a difference of concrete fact, and of

conduct consequent upon that fact, imposed upon somebody, somehow^!
somewhere and somewhen The whole function of philosophy ought
7
to be to find out what definite difference it would make to you and me/
at definiteinstants of our life, if this world-formula or that world-
lormula be the one which is true", (p. 675).
1
"The Pragmatic Method", University of California Chronicle 1898. Reprinted in
Journal of Philosophy, 1904, v. i,p. 673. Page references are to the latter.
i8 THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH
/
This doctrine is illustrated by using it to secure the essence of two

philosophical questions, materialism vs. theism and the one z's. the many.
If we suppose for an instant, he suggests, that this moment is the last
moment of the universe's existence, there will be no difference between
materialism and theism. All the effects that might be ascribed to either
have come about.
"These facts are in, are bagged, are captured and the good that's in
;
them is
gained, be the atom or be the God their cause." (p. 677). "The
God, if there, has been doing just what the atom could do appearing
in the character of atoms, so to speak, and earning such gratitude as is
due to atoms, and no more". Future good or ill is ruled out by
postulate. Taken thus retrospectively, there could be no difference be-
tween materialism and theism.
But taken prospectively, they point to wholly different conse-
quences. "For, according to the theory of mechanical evolution, the
laws of redistribution of matter and motion, though they are certainly
to thank for all the good hours which our organisms have ever yielded
us and all the ideals which our minds now frame, are yet fatally certain
to undo work again, and to redissolve everything that they have
their
evolved We make complaint of [materialism] for what it is not not
a permanent warrant for our more ideal interests, not a fulfiller of our
remotest hopes Materialism means simply the denial that the moral
order is eternal, and the cutting off of ultimate hopes theism means the ;
affirmation of an eternal moral order and the letting loose of hope.

Surely here is an issue genuine enough for anyone who feels it
"[And] if there be a God, it is not likely that he is confined solely
to making differences in the world's latter end he probably makes dif-
;
ferences along its course. Now the principle of practicalism says

all
that that very meaning of the conception of God lies in the differences
which must be made in experience "if the conception be true. God's
famous inventory of perfections, as elaborated by dogmatic theology,
either means nothing, says our principle, or it implies certain definite
things that we can feel and do at certain definite moments of our lives,
things that we could not feel and should not do were no God present
and were the business of the universe carried on by material atoms in-
stead. So far as our conceptions of the Deity involve no such experi-
ences, they are meaningless and verbal, scholastic entities and abstrac-
tions, as the positivists say, and fit objects for their scorn. But so far
as they do involve such definite experiences, God means something for
us, and may be real".
(pp.678-68o).
The second illustration of the pragmatic principle the supposed
N, opposition between the One and the Many may be treated more briefly.
James suggests certain definite and practical sets of results in which to
THE PRAGMATISM OF JAMES 19
and tries out the conception to see whether this result

or that is what oneness means. He finds this method to clarify the
difficultyhere as well as in the previous case. In summarizing he says :
"I have doubt myself that this old quarrel might be completely
little
smoothed out to the satisfaction of all claimants, if only the maxim of

Peirce were methodically followed here. The current jrionism on the^
whole still keeps talking in too abstract a way: It says that the world
must either be pure disconnectedness, no universe at all, or absolute
unity. It insists that there is no stopping-place half-way. Any con-
nection whatever, says this monism, is only possible if there be still more
connection, until at last we are driven to admit the absolutely total con-
nection required. But this absolutely total connection either means
nothing, is the mere word 'one' spelt long, or else it means the sum of
all the partial connections that can possibly be conceived. I believe that,,
when we thus attack the question, and set ourselves to search for these
possible connections, and conceive each in a definite and practical way,
the dispute is already in a fair way to be settled beyond the chance of
misunderstanding, by a compromise in which the Many and the One
both get their lawful rights", (p. 685).
In concluding, James relates Peirce to the English Empiricists, as-
serting that it was they "who first introduced the custom of interpreting
the meaning of conceptions by asking what differences they make for
life The great English way of investigating a conception is to ask
yourself right off, 'What is it known as? In what facts does it result?
What is its cash-Value in terms of particular experience? And what
special difference would come into the world according as it were true
or false? Thus does Locke treat the conception of personal identity.
What you mean by it is just your chain of memories, says he So
Berkeley with his 'matter'. The cash-value of matter is just our physical
sensations Hume does the same thing with causation. It is known
as habitual antecedence Stewart and Brown, James Mill, John Mill,
and Bain, have followed more or less consistently the same method and ;
Shadworth Hodgson has used it almost as explicitly as Mr. Peirce

The short-comings and negations and the baldnesses of the English
philosophers in question come, not from their eye to merely practical
results, but solely from their failure to track the practical results com-
pletely enough to see how far they extend", (pp. 685-6).
It will be at once observed that James, as well as Peirce, is at this
point saying nothing about a new doctrine of truth, but is concerning

himself only with a new doctrine of clearness. Meaning and clearness
"
of meanings are his only topics in this paper. Thus he states, The only
meaning of the conception of God lies in the differences which must be
2O THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH
made in experience // the conception be true. God's famous inventory
of perfection ..either means nothing, says our principle, or it implies
certain definite things that we can feel and do at certain definite moments
in our lives". And again in speaking of the pluralism-monism con-
troversy, "Any connection whatever, says this is only possiblemonism,
if there be still more connection, until at last are driven to admit we
the absolutely total connection required. But this absolutely total con-
nection either means nothing, is the mere word 'one' spelt long, or else
"
itmeans the sum of all the partial connections..
But as we all know, James did afterward embrace the new prag-
matic theory of truth. While he did not in 1898 use the word prag-
matism to designate anything except a new method for securing clear-
ness^yet it can be shown that he had been developing another line of
thought, since a much earlier date, which did lead quite directly toward
the pragmatic theory of truth. It may be well at this point then to go
back and trace the growth of this idea of truth through such writing
as he had done before this time. It will be found, I think, that James'
whole philosophic tendency to move away from the transcendental and
unitary toward the particular was influencing him toward this new con-
ception.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCTRINE THROUGH THE EARLIER WRITINGS
OF JAMES.
1
The first article which James wrote on truth, as he later states, \va>
entitled 'The Function of Cognition", and was published in Mind in
1885. Commenting on this article in 1909 he asserts that many of the

essential theses of the book "Pragmatism", published twenty-two years
later, were already to be found here, and that the difference is mainly
2
one of emphasis.
This article attempts to give a description of knowing as it actually
occurs, not how it originated nor how it is antecedently possible. The
thesis is that an idea knows an external reality when it points to it, re-
sembles it, and is able to affect it. The plan of exposition is to start with
the simplest imaginable material and then gradually introduce additional
matter as it is needed until we have cognition as it actually occurs.
James postulates a single, momentarily-existing, floating feeling as the
entire content, at the instant, of the universe. What, then, can this
momentary feeling know? Calling it a 'feeling of q', it can be made any
particular feeling (fragrance, pain, hardness) that the reader likes. We
see, first, that the feeling cannot properly be said to know itself. There
is no inner duality of the knower on the one hand and content or known
1<l
The Meaning of Truth", Preface, p. viii.
2
Same, p. 137.
>n the other. "If the content of the feeling occurs nowhere els kuthe
universe outside of the feeling itself, and perish with the feeling, com-
mon usage refuses to call it a reality, and brands it as a subjective feature
of the feeling's constitution, or at most as the feeling's dream. For the
feeling to be cognitive in the specific sense, then, it must be self-trans-
cendent". And we must therefore "create a reality outside of it to cor-
respond to the intrinsic quality q". This can stand as the first complica-
tion of that universe. Agreeing that the feeling cannot be said to know
itself, under what conditions does it know the external reality? James
replies, "If the newly-created reality resemble the feeling's quality q, I
say that the feeling may be held by us to be cognizant of that reality".
It may be objected that a momentary feeling cannot properly know a
thing because it has no time to become aware of any of the relations of

the thing. But this rules out only one of the kinds of knowledge, namely
"knowledge about" the thing knowledge as direct acquaintance remains.
;
We may then assert that "if there be in the universe a q other than the q
in the feeling the latter may have acquaintance with an entity ejective
to itself an acquaintance moreover, which, as mere acquaintance it
;
would be hard to imagine susceptible either of improvement or increase,

being in its way complete; and which would oblige us (so long as we
refuse not to call acquaintance knowledge) to say not only that the
feeling is cognitive, but that all qualities of feeling, so long as there is^
anything outside of them which they resemble, are feelings of qualities
of existence, and perceptions of outward fact". But this would be true,
as unexceptional rule, only in our artificially simplified universe. If
there were a number of different q's for the feeling to resemble, while
it meant only one of themj there would obviously be something more
than resemblance in the case of the one which it did know. This fact,
that resemblance is not enough in itself to constitute knowledge, can be
seen also from remembering that many feelings which do resemble
each other closely, e. g., toothaches do not on that account know each
other. Really to know a thing, a feeling must not only resemble the
thing, but must also be able to act on it. In brief, "the feeling of qN
knows whatever reality it resembles, and either directly or indirectly
operates on. If it resemble without operating, it is a dream; if it
operates without resembling, it is an error". Such is the formula for

perceptual knowledge. Concepts must be reduced to percepts, after
which the same rule holds. We may say, to make the formula complete,
"A percept knows whatever reality it directly or indirectly operates on
;md resembles; a conceptual feeling, or thought, knows a reality, when-
ever actually or potentially terminates in a percept that operates on, or
it
resembles that reality, or is otherwise connected with it or with its ^
context".
latter percept [the one to which the concept has been reduced]
"The
may be either sensation or sensorial idea and when I say the thought
;
must terminate in such a percept, I mean that it must ultimately be

capable of leading up thereto, by way of practical experience if the
terminal feeling be a sensation by way of logical or habitual suggestion,
;
if it be only an image in the mand". "These percepts, these termini,

these sensible things, these mere matters of acquaintance, are the only
realitieswe ever directly know, and the whole history of our thought is
the history of our substitution of one of them for the other, and the
reduction of the substitute to the status of a conceptual sign. Con-
temned though they be by some thinkers, these sensations are the mother-
earth, the anchorage, the stable rock, the first and last limits, the terminus
c.
quo and the terminus ad quern of the mind. To find such sensational
termini should be our aim with all our higher thought. They end dis-
cussion they destroy the false conceit of knowledge; and without them
;
we are all at sea with each other's meanings We

can never be sure
we understand each other till we are able to bring the matter to this
test. This is why metaphysical discussions are so much like fighting
with the air they have no practical issue of a sensational kind. Sci-
;
entific theories, on the other hand, always terminate in definite percepts.

You can deduce a possible sensation from your theory and, taking me
into your laboratory prove that your theory is true of my world by
giving me the sensation then and there".
At this point James quotes, in substantiation, the following passage
from Peirce's article of 1878: "There is no distinction in meaning so
fine as to consist inanything but a possible difference in practice It
appears, then, that the rule for attaining the higfihest grade of clearness
of apprehension is as follows Consider what effects, which might
:
conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our con-

ception to have. Then our conception of these effects is the whole of
our conception of the object."
In this early paper of James' are to be found foreshadowings of
pragmatism both as a method and as a theory of truth. Pragmatism
as a method is shown in the whole discussion of the primacy of sensa-
tions and of the necessity for reducing conceptions to perceptions. This
is exactly in line with the pragmatism proposed by Peirce in 1878 and
here quoted from by James. Pragmatism as a theory of truth is antici-

pated by the proposal that the idea knows, and knows truly, the reality
which it is able to make changes in. The idea proves its reference to
a given reality by making these specified changes. It is antecedently
true only if it can bring about these changes. Tl:<- next step is to
say
that its truth consists in its ability to for- d bring to pass these
'HE PRAGMATISM OF JAMES
hanges. Then we have pragmatism as a theory of truth. J;

lot take this step, as we shall see, until after 1904.
There is also a suggestion of the 'subjectivity' of James' later theory
of truth, which would differentiate him even at this time from Peirce on
the question of truth. He has said that a true idea must indeed resemble
reality, but who, he asks, is to determine what is real ? He answers that
an ideaîs true when it resembles somethingwhichfljfas critic, think to be
realitVj^When [the enquirer ]Jfinds tnat trie ieeling that he is studying
contemplates what he Himself regards as a reality he must of course
?dmit the feeling itseTPto blTtruly" cognitive". Peirce would sav that
the idea
tn is points to~a~reality that would be found by all
not true unless It
investigators, quite irrespective of what the one person acting as critic

^ James and Peirce wTnilcrfhereTbre, begih to diverge even at
ay think.
on the truth question. As to what constitutes clearness,
I
they are in agreement.

Something of the same idea is stated again four years later in an
1
tirticle which appeared in Mind and which was republished the following
2
year as a chapter of the Principles of Psychology. One passage will
show the general trend; "A conception to prevail, must terminate in a
world of orderly experience. A rare phenomenon, to displace frequent
ones, must belong with others more frequent still. The history of science
is strewn with wrecks and ruins of theory essences and principles,
fluids and forces once fondly clung to, but found to hang together with
no facts of sense. The exceptional phenomena solicit our belief in vain
until such time as we chance to conceive of them as of kinds already
admitted to exist. What science means by Verification' is no more than
this, that no object of conception shall be ^believedwhich soonor or later
lias not some permanent
object of sensation for its term. ...... .Sensible
vividness or pungency is men
the Vital factor in reality when once the
conflict between objects, and the connecting of them together in the
mind, has begun." (Italics mine).
And in another connection he expresses the idea as follows "Con- :
ceptual systems which neither began nor left off in sensations would be
like bridges without piers. Systems about fact must plunge themselves
into sensations as bridges plunge themselves into the rock. Sensations
are the stable rock, the terminus a quo and the terminus ad qnem of
thought. To find such termini is our aim with all our theories to
conceive first when and where a certain sensation may be had and then
to have it.
Finding it stops discussion. Failure to find it kills the false
conceit of knowledge. Only when you deduce a possible sensation for
14
'The Psychology of Belief", Mind 1889, v. 14, p. 31.
2
Vol. II, chapter XXI.
me from your theory, and give it to me when and where the theory re-
quires, do I begin to be sure that your thought has anything to do with
truth." (11:7).
In 1902 James contributed to the "Dictionary of Philosophy and
Psychology" published by J. Mark Baldwin the following definition for
Pragmatism.
"The doctrine that the whole 'meaning' of a conception expresses
itself practical consequences, consequences either in the shape of
in
conduct to be recommended, or in that of experience to be expected,
if the conception be true which consequences would be different if it
;
were untrue, and must be different from the consequences by which

the meaning of other conceptions is in turn expressed. If a second con-
ception should not appear to have either consequences, then it must
really be only the first conception under a different name. In methodol-
ogy it is certain that to trace and compare their respective consequences
is an admirable way of establishing the different meanings of different
conceptions".
It will be seem that James has not in 1902 differentiated between
pragmatism as a jnetbodând as a thQTV of truth. Leaving out the one

reference to truth, the definition is an excellent statement of the Peircian
doctrine of clearness. This is especially to be noticed in the last two
sentences, which are perfectly 'orthodox' statements of method alone.
.In 1904 and 1905 James published two papers in Mind on the
truth question. The first, "Humanism and Truth", may be called his
'border-line' article. In this he is attempting to give a sympathetic
interpretation of the humanistic theory of truth which he later said
is exactly like his own but is still making the interpretation as an out-
sider. In the second article he has definitely embraced the humanistic
theory and is defending it.
The first article begins as follows "Receiving from the editor of

:*
Mind an advance proof of Mr. Bradley 's article for July on 'Truth and
Practice', I understand this as a hint to me to join in the controversy
over 'Pragmatism' which seems to have seriously begun. As my name
has been coupled with the movement, I deem it wise to take the hint,
the more so as in some quarters greater credit has been given me than
I deserve, and probably undeserved discredit in other quarters falls also
to my lot.
I myself have only used the
"First, as to the word 'pragmatism'.
term to indicate_a method of carrying on abstract discussion. The
serious meaning of a concept, says Mr. Peirce, lies in the concrete dif-
ference to someone which its being true will make. Strive to bring all
'Mind, N. S. 13, p. 457-

HE PRAGMATISM OF JAMES 25
lebated questions to that 'pragmatic' test, and yon will escape-âin
Tangling: if it can make no practical difference which of two state-
icnts be true, then they are reallyone statement in two verbal forms ;
it can make no whether a given statement be true

practical difference
r false, then the statement has no real meaning. In neither case is
there anything fit to quarrel about we may save our breath, and pass
;
to more important things.
"All that the pragmatic method implies, then, is that truths should
have practical consequences. In England the word halTlreefMtsedîiibre
broadly7~to^TDver~the -notion that the truth of any statement consists in
the consequences, and particularly in their being good consequences.
Here we get beyond affairs of method altogether and since this prag- ;
matism and the wider pragmatism are so different, and both are im-
portant enough to have different names, I think that Mr. Schiller's
proposal to call the wider pragmatism by the name of 'Humanism is
t
excellentand ought to be adopted. The narrower pragmatism may still

be spoken of as the 'pragmatic method'.
"If further egotism be in order, I may say that the account of truth
given by Messrs. Sturt and Schiller and by Professor Dewey and his
school goes beyond any theorizing which I personally had ever in-
dulged in until I read their writings. After reading these, / feel almost
sure that these authors are right in their main contentions, but the
originality is wholly theirs, and I can hardly recognize in my own humble
doctrine that concepts are teleological instruments anything considerable
enough to warrant my being called, as I have been, the 'father' ot so
1
important a movement forward in philosophy". (Italic mine).

"I think that a decided effort at a sympathetic mental play with
humanism is the provisional attitude to be recommended to the reader.
"When I find myself playing sympathetically witli humanism, some-

thing like what follows is what I end by conceiving it to mean". (Italics
mine).
Such is the conservative tone in which the article is begun. Yet
before it is ended we
find these passages "It seems obvious that the
:
pragmatic account of all this routine of phenomenal knowledge is ac-

curate", (p. 468). "The humanism, for instance, which I see and try
to hard to defend, is the completest truth attained from my point of
view up to date", (p. 472).
In a supplementary article, "Humanism and Truth Once More",
published a few months later in answer to questions prompted by this
one, the acceptance of humanism is entirely definite. And here James
J
This paragraph appears as a footnote.
finds that he has been advocating the doctrine for several years. He
says, "I myself put forth on several occasions a radically pragmatist
account of knowledge". (Mind, v. 14, p. 196). And again he remarks,
"When following Schiller and Dewey, I define the true as that which
gives the maximal combination of satisfaction ".' (p. 196).
THE THEORY OF TRUTH IN 'FRAGMATISM' AND 'THE

MEANING OF TRUTH'.
In 1907 when he published his book "Pragmatism", James, as we
allknow, was willing to accept the new theory of truth unreservedly.
The hesitating on the margin, the mere interpreting of other's views,
are things of the past. From 1907 James' position toward pragmatism
as a truth-theory is unequivocal.
Throughout I should like to point out, James is using
the book, as
'pragmatism' in two senses, and 'truth' in two senses. The two mean-
ings of pragmatism he recognizes himself, and points out clearly the
difference between pragmatism as a method for attaining clearness in
our ideas and pragmatism as a theory of the truth or falsity of those
ideas. But the two meanings' of 'truth' he does not distinguish. And
it is here that he differs from Dewey, as we shall presently see. He
differed from Peirce on the question of the meaning of pragmatism as
to whether it could be developed to include a doctrine of truth as well as
of clearness. He differs from Dewey on the question of 'truth' as to .3
whether truth shall be used in both of the two specified senses or only
in one of them.
'The Ambiguity of 'Satisfaction' The double meaning of truth in
James' writing at this date may be indicated in this way While truth :
is to be defined in terms of satisfaction, what is satisfaction? Does it

mean that I am to be satisfied of a certain quality in the idea, or that I
am to be satisfied by it? In other words, is the criterion of truth the
fact that the idea leads as it promised or is it the fact that its leading,
whether just as it promised or not, is desirable? Which, in short, are
we to take as truth, expectations or value of results?
fulfilled
distinguish between these two that James involves

It is in failing to
himself, I believe, in most of his difficulties, and it is in the recognition"

and explicit indication of this difference that Dewey differentiates him-
self from James. We may pass on to cite specific instances in which
James uses each of these criteria. We will find, of course, that there
are passages which can be interpreted as meaning either value or fulfill-
ment, but there are many in which the use of value as a criterion seems
unmistakable.
The following quotations may be instanced: "If theological views
prove to have value for concrete life, they will be true, for pragmatism,
in the sense of beinggood for so much. For how much more they are
true, will depend entirely on their relation to the other truths that have
also to be acknowledged". For example, in so far as the Absolute
affords comfort, it is not sterile "it has that amount of value it per-
; ;
forms a concrete function. I myself ought to call the Absolute true

'in so far forth', then; and I unhesitatingly now do so", (p. 72).
"On pragmatic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satis-
factorily 'in the widest sense of the word, it is true. Now whatever
its residual difficulties may be, experience shows that it certainly does
work, and that the problem is to build out and determine it so that it
will combine satisfactorily with all the other working truths", (p. 299).
"The true is the name
for whatever proves itself to be good in the >.
way of belief, and good, too, for definite, assignable reasons", (p. 76). /
"Empirical psychologists have denied the soul, save as the name *
for verifiable cohesions in our inner life. They redescend into the
stream of experience with it, and cash it into so much small-change
value in the way of 'ideas' and their connections with each other. The
soul is good or 'true for just so much, but no more", (p. 92, italics mine) .
"Since almost any object may some day become temporarily im-
portant, the advantage of having a stock of extra truths, of ideas that
shall be true of merely possible situations, is obvious Whenever such
extra truths become practically relevant to one of our emergencies, it
passes from cold storage to do work in the world and our belief in it ^
grows active. You can say of it then either that 'it useful because it
is
'
is true' or that it is true-because. -it is- useful'. Both these phrases mean
exactly the same thing From this simple cue pragmatism gets her
general notion of truth as something essentially bound up with the way
j
in which one moment in our experience may lead us towards other

moments which it will be worth while to have, been led to. Primarily,
and on the common-sense level, the truth of a state of mind means this
function of a while" (pp. 204-205, italics mine).
leading MiaL_is.-wertlL.
.
"To 'agreeTn the widest sense with reality can only mean to be
guided either straight up to it or into its surroundings, or to be put into
such working touch with it as to handle either it or something connected
with it better than if we disagreed. Better either intellectually or
practically! Any idea that helps us to deal, whether practically or
intellectually, with either reality or its belongings, that doesn't entangle
our progress in frustrations, that fits, in fact, and adapts our life to the
reality's whole setting, will hold true of that reality", (pp. 212-213).
"
'The true', to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way
of our thinking, just as the 'right' is only the expedient in the way of
our behaving. E.vpedieiiTITratJno^t Tltiy fashion; and expedient in the
long run and on the whole of course", (p. 222).
We
may add a passage with the same bearing, from "The Mean-
ing of Truth". In this quotation James is retracting the statement made
in the University of California Address that without the future there
is no difference between theism and materialism. He says "Even if :
matter could do every outward thing that God does, the idea of it would
not work as satisfactorily, because the chief call for a God on modern
men's part is for a being who will inwardly recognize them and judge
them sympathetically. Matter disappoints this craving of our ego, and
so God remains for most men the truer hypothesis, and indeed remain
so for definite pragmatic reasons", (p. 189, notes).
The contrast between 'intellectual' and 'practical' seems to make
his position certain. If truth is tested by practical w orkings, as con- r
trasted with intellectual workings, it cannot be said to be limited to ful-

filled expectation^
The statement that the soul is good or true shows the same thing.
The relation of truth to extraneous values is here beyond question.
The other passages all bear, more or less obviously, in the same direction.
As James keeps restating his position, there are many of the defini-
tions that could be interpreted to mean either values or fulfillments, and
even a few which seem to refer to fulfillment alone. The two following
examples can be taken to mean either :
"Truth' in our^deasând. beliefs means that ideas (which

themselves are but parts of our experience) become true just in so far
as they help us to get into satisfactory relation with other parts of our
experience, to summarize them and get about among them by con-
ceptual short-cuts instead of following the interminable succession of
particular phenomena. Any idea upon which we can ride, so to speak ;
any idea that will carry us prosperously from one part of our exper-
ience to any other part, linking things satisfactorily, working securely,
simplifying, saving labor, is true for just so much, true in so far forth,
true instrumentally". (p. 58).
"A new opinion counts as true just in proportion as it gratifies the
individual's desire to assimilate the novel in his experience to his beliefs
in stock. It must both lean on old truth and grasp new fact ;
and its suc-
cess in
doing a matter for individual appreciation.
this, is When
old truth grows, then, by new truth's addition, it is for subjective ressons.
We are in the process and obey the reasons. The new idea is truest
which performs most felicitously its function of satisfying this double
urgency .4 It makes, itself true, gets itself classed as true, by the way it
works." (p.64).
But we can turn from these to a paragraph in which truth seems
to be limited to fulfilled expectations alone.
"True ideas are those which we can assimilate, validate, corroborate,
v
m<: PRAGMATISM
mid verify. False ideas are those which we cannot. That is the .prac-
tical difference it makes to us to have true ideas ; that, therefore, is the_
meaning of truth, for it is all that truth is known as

"But what do validation and verification themselves pragmatically
mean? They again signify certain practical consequences of the verified
and validated idea They head us through the acts and other
ideas which they instigate, into or up to, or towards, other parts of ex-
perience with which we feel all the while that the original ideas re-
main in agreement. The connections and transitions come to us from
point to point as being progressive, harmonious, satisfactory. This
function of agreeable leading is what we mean by an idea's verifica-
tion". (pp.2OI-2O2).
The Relation of Truth to Utility It seems certain from the
foregoing that James means, at least at certain times, to define the true
in terms of the valuable. Satisfaction he is using as satisfaction by
rather than satisfaction of. As we have pointed out, one may be satis-
fied of the correctness of one's idea without being at all satisfied by it.
This distinction has been most clearly set forth by Boodin, in his discus-
sion of 'What pragmatism is not', in the following words "The truth :
satisfaction may run counter to any moral or esthetic satisfaction in the

particular case. It may consist in the .discovery that the friend we had
backed had involved us in financial failure, that the picture we had
bought from the catalogue description is anything but beautiful. But
we are no longer uncertain as regards the truth. Our restlessness, so
1
far as that particular curiosity .is concerned, has come to an end".

It is clear then, that the discovery of truth is not to be identified^
with a predominantly satisfactory state of mind at the moment. Our

state of mind at the moment may have only a grain of satisfaction, yet
this is of so unique a kind and so entirely distinguishable from the other
contents of the mind that it is perfectly practicable as a criterion. It is
simply "the cessation of the irritation of a doubt", as Peirce puts it. or
.
the feeling that my idea has led as it promised. The feeling of fulfilled
expectation is thus a very distinct and recognizable part of the whole
general feeling commonly described as 'satisfaction'. When 'utility' in
our ideas, therefore, means a momentary feeling of dominant satisfac-
tion, truth cannot be identified with it.
And I wish now to point out, can truth be identified
neither, as
with utility when utility means a long-run satisfactoriness, or satisfac-
loriness of. the idea for a considerable number of people through a con-
siderable period of time. The same objection arises here which we
noted a moment ago that the satisfaction may be quite indifferent to
1
Boodin: Truth and Reality, pp. 193-4.
the special satisfaction arising from tests. As has been often shown,
many ideas are satisfactory for a long period of time simply because
they are not subjected to tests. "A hope is not a hope, a fear is not a
fear, once either is recognized as unfounded A delusion is delusion
only so long as it is not known to be one. A mistake can be built upon
only so long as it is not suspected".
Some actual delusions which were not readily subjected to tests
have been long useful in this way. "For instance, basing ourselves on
Lafcadio Hearn, we might quite admit that the opinions summed up
under the title 'Ancestor- Worship' had been 'exactly what was re-
quired' by the former inhabitants of Japan". "It was good for primitive
man to believe that dead ancestors required to be fed and honored
because it induced savages to bring up their offspring instead of letting
it
perish. But although it was useful to hold that opinion, the opinion
was false". "Mankind has always wanted, perhaps always required,
1
and certainly made itself, a stock of delusions and sophisms".
Perhaps we would all agree that the belief that 'God is on our side'
has been useful to the tribe holding it. It has increased zeal and fight-
ing efficiency tremendously. But since God can't be on both sides, the
belief of one party to the conflict is untrue, no matter how useful. To
believe that (beneficial) tribal customs are enforced by the tribal gods
is useful, but if the tribal gods are non-existent the belief is false. The
beautiful imaginings of poets are sometimes useful in minimizing and
disguising the hard and ugly reality, but when they will not test out
they cannot be said because of their beauty or desirability to be true.
We must conclude then, that some delusions are useful. And we
may go on and question James' identification of truth and utility from
another point of view. Instead of agreeing that true ideas and useful
ideas are the same, we have shown that some useful ideas are false :
but the converse is also demonstrable, that some true ideas are useless.
There are formulas in pure science which are of no use to anyone
outside the science because their practical bearings, if such there be,
have not yet been discovered, and are of no use to the scientist himself
because, themselves the products of deduction, they as yet suggest noth-
ing that can be developed farther from them. While these formulas
may later be found useful in either of these senses for 'practical de-
mands' outside the science, or as a means to something else within the
science they are now already true quite a pan from utility, because
they will test out by fulfilling expectations.
Knowledge that is not useful is most striking in relation to 'vice'.
1
Lee: Vital Lies, vol. i, pp.
One may have a true idea as to how and cheat, may know_what
to lie
cheating is and how it is done, and yet involve both himself and others
in most ////satisfactory consequences. The person who is attempting to
stop the use of liquor, and who to this end has located in a 'dry' district,
may receive correct information as to the location of a 'blind-tiger' in-
formation which while true may bring about his downfall. Knowledge
about any form of vice, true knowledge that can be tested out, may
upon occasion be harmful to any extent we like.
We may conclude this section by citing a paragraph which will
show the fallacious reasoning by which James came, to identify the
truth and the utility of ideas. At one point in replying to a criticism
he says "I can conceive no other objective content to the notion of an
:
ideally perfect truth than that of penetration into [a completely satis-

factory] terminus, nor can I conceive that the notion would ever have
grown up, or that true ideas would ever have been sorted out from false
or idle ones, save for the greater sum of satisfactions, intellectual or
practical,which the truer ones brought with them. Can we imagine a
man absolutely satisfied with an idea and with all his relations to his
other ideas and to his sensible experiences, who should yet not take its
content as a true account of reality? The matter of the true is thus
absolutely identical with the matter of the satisfactory. You may put
either word first in your way of talking but leave out that whole notion
;
of satisfactory working or leading (which is the essence of my prag-

matic account) and call truth a static, logical relation, independent even
of possible leadings or satisfactions, and it seems to me that you cut all
1
ground from under you". (Meaning of Truth, p. I6O).

Now it is to be observed that this paragraph contains at least three
logical fallacies. In the first sentence there a false assumption, namely

is
that 'all that survives is valuable'. 'Then', we are given to understand,

'since true ideas survive, they must be valuable'. No biologist would
agree to this major premise. 'Correlation' preserves many things that
are not valuable, as also do other factors.
In the second sentence there is an implied false conversion. The
second sentence says, irusubstance, that all true ideas are satisfactory
(valuable). This is supposed to-prove the assertion of the first sentence,
namely, that all satisfactory (valuable) ideas are true.
Peirce had the following comment to make in 1878 upon the

*It is interesting to see that
utility "Logicality in regard to practical matters is the most useful quality an

of truth.
animal can possess, and might, therefore, result from the action of natural selection; but out-
side of these it is probably of more advantage to the animal to have his mind filled with
pleasing and encouraging visions, independently of their truth; and thus upon impractical
subjects, natural selection might occasion a fallacious tendency of thought". (From
the first article in the series "Illustrations of the Logic of Science", Popular Science
Monthly, vol. 12, p. 3).
In the last sentence there is a false disjunction. Truth, it is stated,
must either be satisfactory (valuable) working, or a static logical rela-
tion. We have tried to show that it may simply mean reliable working
or working that leads as it promised. This may be neither predomi-
nantly valuable working nor a static logical relation.
The Relation of Satisfaction to Agreement and Consistency. James
continually reasserts that he has 'remained an epistemological realist',
that he has 'always postulated an independent reality', that ideas to be
1
true must 'agree with reality', etc.
Reality he defines most clearly as follows :
"
'Reality' is in general what truths have to take account of
"The first part of reality from this point of view is the flux of our
sensations. Sensations are forced upon us Over their nature, order
and quantity we have as good as no control
"The second part of reality, as something that our beliefs must
also take account of, is the relations that obtain between their copies in
our minds. This part falls into two sub-parts ( i ) the relations that are
:
mutable and accidental, as those of date and place; and (2) those that
are fixed and essential because they are grounded on the inner nature
of their terms. Both sorts of relation are matters of immediate per-
ception. Both are 'facts'
"The third part of reality, additional to these perceptions (tho
largely based upon them), is the previous truths of which every new
inquiry takes account". (Pragmatism, p. 244).
An idea's agreement with reality, or better with all those parts of
reality, means a satisfactory relation of the idea to them. Relation to
the sensational part of reality is found satisfactory when the idea leads
"
to it without jar or discord. What do the words verification and
validation themselves pragmatically mean? They again signify certain
practical consequences of the verified and validated idea. It is hard
to find any one phrase that characterizes these consequences better than
the ordinary agreement-formula just such consequences being what we
have in mind when we say that our ideas 'agree' with reality. They
lead us, namely, through the acts and other ideas which they instigate,
into and up to, or towards, other parts of experience with which we feel
all the while that the original ideas remain in agreement. The con-
nections and transitions come to us from point to point as being pro-
gressive, harmonious, satisfactory. This function of agreeable leading
is what we mean by an idea's verification". (Pragmatism, pp. 201-2).
An
idea's relation to the other parts of reality is conceived more
broadly. Thus pragmatism's "only test of probable truth is what works
J
For example, in the Meaning of Truth, pagges 195 and 233.
best in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and com-
bines with the collectivity of life's demands, nothing being omitted, if
theological ideas should do this, if the notion of God, in particular, should

prove to do it, how could pragmatism possibly deny God's existence?
She could see no meaning in treating as 'not true' a notion that was
pragmatically so successful. What other kind of truth could there be,
for her, than all this agreement with concrete reality"? (Pragmatism,
p. 80, italics mine). Agreement with reality here means ability to
satisfy the sum of life's demands.
James considers that this leaves little room for license in the choice
of our beliefs. "Between the coercions of the sensible order and those
of the ideal order, our mind is thus wedged tightly". "Our (any)
theory must mediate between all previous truths and certain new
exper-
iences. must derange common sense and previous belief as little as
It
possible, and it must lead to some sensible terminus or other that can be
verified exactly. To 'work' means both these things and the squeeze ;
isso tight that there is little loose play for any hypothesis. Our theories
are thus wedged and controlled as nothing else is". "Pent in, as the
pragmatist more than anyone else sees himself to be, between the whole
body of funded truths squeezed from the past and the coercions of the
world of sense about him, who so well as he feels the immense pressure
of objective control under which our minds perform their operations".
(Pragmatism, pp. 211, 217, 233).
Now on the contrary it immediately occurs to a reader that if
reality be simply "what truths have to take account of", and if taking-
account-of merely means agreeing in such a way as to satisfy "the col-
demands", then the proportion in which these parts of
lectivity of life's
reality count will vary enormously.
will One person may find the
'previous-truths' part of reality to make such a strong 'demand' that
%
he will disregard 'principles' or reasoning almost entirely.
Another may disregard the 'sensational' part of reality, and give no
consideration whatever to 'scientific' results. These things, in fact, are
exactly the things that do take place. The opinionated person, the
crank, the fanatic, as well as the merely prejudiced, all refuse to open
their minds and give any particular consideration to such kinds of
evidence. therefore a great deal of room for license, and a
There is
when the agreement of our ideas with

great deal of license practiced,
reality means nothing more than their satisfactoriness to our lives' de-
mands, ^jjjl
How James fell into this error is shown, I believe, by his over-
estimation of the common man's regard for truth, and especially for
consistency. Thus he remarks "As we humans are constituted in
:
point of fact, we find that to believe in other men's minds, in inde-

pendent physical realities, in past events, in eternal logical relations, is
satisfactory Above
all we find consistency satisfactory, consistency
"
between the present idea and the entire rest of our mental equipment
"After man's interest in breathing freely, the greatest of all his in-
terests (because it never fluctuates or remits, as most of his
physical
interests do), is his interest in consistency, in feeling that what he now
thinks goes with what he thinks on other occasions". (Meaning of
ruth, pp. 192, 211).
The general method of James on this point, then, is to define truth
in terms of satisfaction and then to try to show that these satisfactions
cannot be secured illegitimately. That is, that \vef nntst defer to experi-
mental findings, to consistency, and to other checks on opinion. Con-
sistency must be satisfactory because people are so constituted as to
find it so. Agreement with reality, where reality means epistemological
reality, is satisfactory for the same reason. And agreement with reality,
where reality includes in addition principles and previous truths, must
be satisfactory because agreement in this case merely means such tak-
ing-account-of as will satisfy the greater proportion of the demands of
life. In other words, by defining agreement in this case in terms of
satisfactions, he makes it certain that agreement and satisfaction will
coincide by the device of arguing in a circle. It turns out that, from
over-anxiety to assure the coincidence of agreement and satisfaction, he

entirely loses the possibility of using reality and agreement with reality
in the usual sense of checks on satisfactions.
CHAPTER III.
THE PRAGMATIC DOCTRINE AS SET FORTH BY DEWEY.

Theposition of Dewey is best represented in his paper called "The
1
Kxperimehtal Theory of Knowledge". In the method of presentation,
this article is much like James' account "The Function of
Cognition".
Roth assume some simple type of consciousness and study it by
gradually
introducing more and more complexity. In aim, also, the two are
similar, for the purpose of each is simply to describe. Dewey attempts
here to tell of a knowing just as one describes any other object, concern,
or event. "What we want", he announces "is just
something which
takes itself for knowledge, rightly or wrongly".
Let us suppose, then, that we have simply a floating odor. If this
odor starts changes that end in picking and enjoying a rose, what sort
of changes must these be to involve some where within their course that
which we call
knowledge ?
Now it can be shown, first, that there is a difference between know-
ing and mere presence in consciousness. \ If the smell is simply dis-
placed by a felt movement, and this in turn is displaced by the enjoy-
ment of the rose, in such a way that there is no experience of connec-
tion between the three stages of the process, that is, without the ap-
pearance 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 Acquaintance always implies a little friendliness; a trace
it.
of re-knowing, of anticipatory welcome or dread of the trait to fol-

low jfo be a &meJL(or anything else) is one thing, to be known as a
smell, another; to be a is one thing, to be knoivn as a
'feeling' 'feeling'
is another. ThethingKood existence indubitable, direct in this
firjst/is ; ;
way things are that are in 'consciousness' at all.

all The secorjyd is
reflected being, things indicating and calling for other things some-
thing 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 imme-
diate 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
1
Mind, N. S. 15, July 1906. Reprinted in "The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy
ami Other Essays", p. 77. Page references are to the latter.
35
trait is followed out./' To be acquainted is to anticipate to some extent,
on the basis of previous experience".\ (pp. Si, 82).
./Besides mere existence, there is another type of experience which
is often confused with
knowledge, a type which Dewey calls the
from genuine knowledge or the 'cognitional'. In
'cognitive' as distinct
this experience "we retrospectively attribute intellectual force and func-
tion to the smell". This involves memory but not As we
anticipation.
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 and if we then search about and find the rose, we can say that
is,
the odor meant the rose in the sense that it actually led to the discovery
of it. "Yet the sn^ll was not cognitional because it did not knowingly
intend to mean this, but is found, after the event, to have meant
it",
/p. 84).
/Now,'before the category of confirmation or refutation can be
"b
introduced, there must
bespmething which means to mean something".
Let us therefore introduce a further complexity into the illustration.
Let us suppose that the small occurs at a later date, and is then "aware
of something else which it means, which it intends to effect by an opera-
tion incited by it and without which its own presence is abortive, and,
so to say, unjustified, senseless". Here we have something "which is
contemporaneously aware of meaning something beyond itself, instead
of having this meaning ascribed to it by another at a later period. The
knows the rose, the rose is known b\ the odor, and the import of
each term is constituted by the relationship in which it stands to the
othei/". (p. 88). This is the genuine 'cognitional' experience.
'Whenthe odor recurs 'cognitionally', both the odor and the rose
/ are present in thesame experience, though both are not present in the
{
same way. "Things can be presented as absent, just as they can be
presented as hard or soft". The enjoyment of the rose is present as
going to be there in the same way that the odor is. "The situation is
inherently an uneasy one one in which everything hangs upon the per-
formance of the operation indicated upon the adequacy of movement
;
as a connecting link, or real adjustment of the thing meaning and the

thing meant. Generalizing from this instance, we get the following
definition /ûi experience is a knowledge, if in its quale there is an
:
experienced distinction and connection of two elements of the following

sort .one means or intends the presence of the other in the same fashion
:
in whicrTit itself is already present, while the other is that which, while
not present in the same fashion, must become present if the meaning
or intention of its companion or yoke-fellow is to be fulfilled through
the operation it sets up". \(p. 90).
THE PRAGMATISM OF JAA**S 37
Now/in the transformation from this tensional situation into a

harmonious situation, there is an experience either of fulfilment or dis-
If there a disappointment of expectation, this may
is
appointment.\
throw one back in reflection upon the original situation. The smell, we
may say, seemed to mean a rose, yet it did not in fact lead to a rose.
There is
something else We then begin an investiga-
which enters in.
tion. "Smells may become the object of knowledge. They may take,
pro tempore, the place which the rose formerly occupied. One may,
that is, observe the cases in which the odors mean other things than
just roses, may voluntarily produce new cases for the sake of further
inspection; and thus account for the cses where meanings had been
falsified in the issue discriminate more carefully the peculiarities of
;
those meanings which the event verified, and thus safeguard and bul-
wark some extent the employing of similar meanings in the future",
to
(p- 93)- When we reflect upon these fulfilments or refusals,, we find in

them a quality "quite lacking to them in their immediate occurence as
just fulfilments and disappointments", the quality of affording assur-
ance and correction. /Truth and falsity are not properties of any ex-
perience or thing, in and of itself or in its first intention but of things ;
where the problem of assurance consciously enters in. Truth and

c
falsity present themselves as significant facts only in situations in which

specific meanings and their already experienced fulfilments and non-ful-
filments are intentionally compared and contrasted with reference to the
question of the worth, as to the, reliability of meaning, of the given
.meaning or class of meanings. 'Like knowledge itself, truth is an ex-
and it has no meaning outside of such
perienced relation of things,
relation"\(p. 95).
Though this paper isby title a discussion of a theory of knowledge,
we may find in this last paragraph a very clear relating of the whole to
a theory of
Jruth.
If we attempt to differentiate in this article between
knowledge and^ffuth, we uses jmowledge* tojceier
find that while Dewey \/
'
t-ither to the prospective orjojhej^trospeet^ end of tlje experimental

experieiiceTTê" evidently intends to limit truth to the retrospective
or
confirmatory end of the expene^nce. When he says, "Truth and falsity

are not properties of any experience or thing in and of itself or in its
first intention, but of things where the problem of assurance consciously
enters in. Truth and falsity present themselves as significant facts only
in situations in_ which specific meanings aiuMheir already experienced
and contrasted with reference to
fulfilmentsjire intentionally compared
the question of the worth, as to reliability of meaning, of the 'given
meaning or class of meanings", it seems that truth is to be confined to

retrospective experience. jrThe truth of an idea means that it allows one
at its fulfilment to look former meaning and think of it as
back at its
now confirmed)^ The difference between knowledge and truth is then a

difference in the time at which the developing experince is examined.
If one takes the experience at the appearance of the knowing odor, he N
gets acquaintance if one takes iut the stage at which it has developed
;
into a confirmation, he gets truth. Knowledge may be either stage of

the experience of verification, but truth is confined to the later, con-
firmatory, stage.
Truth, then, is simply a matter of confirmation of prediction or of
fulfilment of expectation. An idea is made true by leading as it
promised^ And an idea is made false when it leads to refutation of ex-
pectation:\
There seems to be no necessity here for an absolute reality
ior the ideas to conform to, or 'correspond' to, for truth is a certian
kind of relation between the ideas themselves the relation, namely, of
leading to fulfilment of expectations^
CONTRAST BETWEEN JAMES AND DEWEV.
If, now, we wish to bring out the difference between the account
of truth which we have just examined and the account that is given by
James, we will find the distinction quite evident. Truth, for Dewey, is
that relation which arises when, at an experience of fulfilment, one looks

back to the former experience and thinks of its leading as now con-
firmed. An idea is true, therefore, when we can refer back to it in this
way and say, "That pointing led me to this experience, as it said it
would". The pointing, by bringing a fulfilment, is made true at this
point of confirmation it becomes true.
Since a true idea defined, then, as one which leads as it promised,

is
it obvious that truth will not be concerned in any way with incidental
is
or accidental values which might be led to by the idea. It has no relation
to whether the goal is ^cvorth while being led to or not. James speaks
of truth as a leading that is worth while. For Dewey the goal may be
valuable, useless, or even pernicious, these are entirely irrelevant to
truth, which is determined solely by the fact that the idea leads as it
promised\
The existence of this distinction was pointed out, after the ap-
1
pearance of James' "Pragmatism", by Dewey himself. After a careful

discussion of some other points of difference, he says of this matter of
the place of the value of an udea in reference to its truth "We have :
ll
'What Does Pragmatism Mean by Practical?", Journal of Philosophy, etc., 1908,
v. 5, P- 85.
THE PRAGMATISM OF j
* ^ 39
the theory that ideas as ideas are always working hypotheses concerning
attaining particular empirical results, and are tentative programs (or
sketches of method) for attaining them. If we stick consistently to this
notion of ideas, only consequences which are actually produced by the
working of the idea in cooperation with, or application to, prior realities
are good consequences in the specific sense of good which is relevant to
establishing the truth of an idea. This is, at times, unequivocally
recognized by Mr. James But at other times any good that flows
from acceptance of a belief is treated as if it were an evidence, in so far,
of the truth of the idea. This holds particularly when theological notions
are under consideration. Light would be thrown upon how Mr. James
conceives this matter by statements from him on such points as these :
If ideas terminate in good consequences, but yet the goodness of the
consequence was no part of the intention of the idea, does the goodness
have any verifying force? goodness of consequences arises from
If the
the context of the idea rather than from the idea itself, does it have
any verifying force? If an idea leads to consequences which are good
in the one respect only of fulfilling the intent of the idea, (as when one
drinks a liquid to test the idea that it is a poison), does the badness of
the consequences in every other respect detract from the verifying force
of these consequences ?
"Since Mr. James has referred to me as saying 'truth is what gives
satisfaction' (p. 234), I may remark that I never identified any
satisfaction with the truth of an idea, save that satisfaction which arises
when the idea as working hypothesis or tentative method is applied to
prior existences in such a way as to fulfil what it intends
"When he says of the idea of an absolute, 'so far as it affords
such comfort it surely not sterile, it has that amount of value it per-
is ;
forms a concrete function. As a good pragmatist I ought to call the

absolute true in so far forth then and I unhesitatingly now do so', the
;
doctrine seems to be unambiguous: that any good, consequent upon

acceptance of belief, is, in so far forth, a warrant for truth. Of course
Mr. James holds that this 'in so far' goes a very small way But even
the slightest concession, is, I think, non-pragmatic unless the satisfac-
tion is relevant to the idea as intent. Now the satisfaction in question
comes not from the idea as idea, but from its acceptance as true. Can a
satisfaction dependent upon an assumption that an idea is already true
be relevant to testing the truth of an idea? And
like thatcan an idea,
of the absolute, which, if true, 'absolutely' precludes any appeal to
consequences as test of truth, be confirmed by use of the pragmatic test

without sheer self-contradiction" ?' "An explicit statement as to whether
last four sentences appear in a footnote.

the carrying function, the linking of things, is satisfactory and pros-
perous and hence true in so far as it executes the intent of the idea or ;
whether the satisfaction and prosperity reside in the material conse-

quences on their own account and in that aspect make the idea true,
would, I am sure, locate the point at issue and economize and fructify
future discussion. At present pragmatism is accepted by those whose
own notions are thoroughly rationalistic in make-up as a means of re-
furbishing, galvanizing, and justifying those very notions. It is rejected
by non-rationalists (empiricists and naturalistic idealists) because it
seems to them identified with the notion that pragmatism holds that the
desirability of certain beliefs overrides the question of the meaning of
the idea involved in them and the existence of objects denoted by them.
Others (like myself) who believe thoroughly in pragmatism as a method
of orientation as defined by Mr. James, and who would apply the method
to the determination of the meaning of objects, the intent and worth of
ideas as ideaxând to the human and moral value of beliefs, when these
problems are carefully distinguished from one another, do not know
whether they are pragmatists or not, because they are not sure whether
the 'practical', in the sense of the desirable facts which define the worth
of a belief, is confused with the practical as an attitude imposed by
objects, and with the practical as a power and function of idea to effect
changes in prior existences. Hence the importance of knowing what
pragmatism means by practical
"I would do Mr. James an injustice, however, to stop here. His :
real doctrine, I think, is that a belief is true when it satisfies both the
personal needs and the requirements of objective things. Speaking of

pragmatism, he says, 'Her only test of probable truth is what works best
in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and combines
with the collectivity of experiences demands, nothing being omitted'.
And again, 'That new idea is truest which performs most felicitously its
function of satisfying our double urgency', (p. 64). It does not appear
certain from the context that this 'double urgency' is that of the personal
and the objective demands, but it is probable On this basis, the 'in
so far forth' of the truth of the absolute because of the comfort it sup-
plies, means that one
of the two conditions which need to be satisfied
has been met, so that if the absolute met the other one also it would be
I have no doubt that his is Mr. James' meaning, and it
quite true.
sufficiently safeguards him from charges that pragmatism means that
anything that is agreeable is true. At the same time, I do not think, in
logical strictness, that satisfying one of two tests, when satisfaction of
both is required, can be said to constitute a belief true even 'in so far
forth".
BIBLIOGRAPHY 45
THE WORKS OF WILLIAM JAMES
A "List of the Published Writings of William James" will be found in the
sychological Review for March ign, v. 18, p. 157.
THE WORKS OF JOHN DEWEY

On Logic and Metaphysics:
1882. The metaphysical assumptions of mater-
ialism. Jour. Spec. Phil. 16:208.
The pantheism of spinoza. Jour. Spec. Phil. 16:249.
1883. Knowledge and the relativity of feeling. Jour. Spec. Phil. 17:56.
1884. Kant and philosophic method. Jour. Spec. Phil. 18:162.
1886. The psychological standpoint. Mind 11:1.
Psychology as philosophic method. Mind 11:153.
1887. "Illusory psychology," Mind 12:83.
Knowledge as idealization. Mind 12:382.
1888. Leibniz's New Essays Concerning Human
Understanding.
1890. On some current conceptions of the term
'self, Mind 15:58.
1891. The present position of logical theory. Monist 2:1.
1892. The superstition of necessity. Monist 3:362.
1894. The ego as cause. Phil. Rev. 3:337.
1895. Interest as Related To Will.
1900. Some stages of logical thought. Phil. Rev. 9:465.
1903. Logical Conditions of a Scientific Treat-
ment of Morality.
(And others) Studies in Logical Theory.
1904. Notes upon logical topics.
1 A
classification of contemporary tend-
encies. Jour. Phil. 1:57.
II The meaning of the term idea. Jour. Phil. 1:175.
1905. Immediate empiricism. Jour. Phil. 2:597.
The knowledge experience and its relation-
ships. Jour. 2:652.
Phil.
The knowledge experience again. Jour. 2:707.
Phil.
The postulate of immediate empiricism. Jour. 2:393.
Phil.
The realism of pragmatism. Jour. 2:324.
Phil.
1906. Reality as experience. Jour. 3:253.
Phil.
The terms 'conscious' and 'consciousness'. Jour. Phil.3:39.
Beliefs and realities. Phil. Rev. 15:113.
Experience and objective idealism. Phil. Rev. 15:465.
The experimental theory of knowledge. Mind. 15:293.
1907. The control of ideas by facts. Jour. Phil. 4:197,253,309.
Pure experience and reality: a disclaimer. Phil. Rev. 16:419.
Reality and the criterion for truth of ideas. Mind 15:317.
1908. What
does pragmatism mean by practical ? Jour. Phil. 5:85.
Logical character of ideas. Jour. Phil. 5:375.
1909. Objects, data, and existence: Reply to Pro-
fessor McGilvary. Jour. Phil. 6:13.
Dilemma of the intellectualistic theory of
truth. Jour. Phil. 6:433.
Darwin's influence on philosophy. Pop. Sci. Mo. 75:90.
1910. Some implications of anti-intellectualism. Jour. Phil. 7:4777
Short cuts to realism examined. Jour. Phil. 7:553.
Valid knowledge and the subjectivity of ex-
perience. Jour. Phil. 7:169.
Science as subject-matter and as method. Science n. s. 31:121.
How We Think.
Influence of Darwin on Philosophy, and
Other Essays.
1911. Rejoinder to Dr. Spaulding. Jour. Phil. 8:77
Brief studies in realism. Jour. Phil. 8:393,546.
Joint discussion with Dr. Spaulding. Jour. Phil. 8:574.
1912. Reply to Professor McGilvary's questions. Jour. Phil. 9:19.
In response to Professor McGilvary. Jour. Phil. 9:544.
Perception and organic action. Jour. Phil. 9:645.
Reply to Professor Royce's critique of in-
strumentalism. Phil. Rev. 21:69.
On Psychology, Ethics, Education, etc.:

1890. Moral theory and practice. Int. Jour. Ethics 1:186.
1891. Psychology.
Outline of a Critical Theory of Ethics.
1892. Green's theory of the moral motive. Phil. Rev. 1:593.
1893. Teaching ethics in high school. Ed. Rev. 6:313.
Self-realization as the moral ideal. Phil. Rev. 2:652.
1894. The psychology of infant language. Psy. Rev. 1:63.
The theory of emotion.
I Emotional attitudes. Psy. Rev. 1:553.
1895. II The significance of the emotions. Psy. Rev. 2:13.
1896. The metaphysical method in ethics. Psy. Rev. 3:181.
The reflex arc concept in psychology. Psy. Rev. 3:357.
Influence of the high school upon educational
methods. Ed. Rev. 4:1.
1897. The psychology of effort. Phil. Rev. 6:43.
(And J. A. McLellan) Psychology of Num-
ber and its Application to Methods of
Teaching Arithmetic.
Evolution and ethics. Monist 8:321.
Psychological aspects of school curriculums. Ed. Rev. 13:356.
1898. Some remarks on the psychology of number. Ped. Sem. 5:426.
W. T. Harris's Psychological Foundation of Ed. Rev. 16:1.
Education.
Social interpretations. Phil. Rev. 7:631.
1900. Psychology and social practice. Psy. Rev. 7:105.
1901. Psychology and Social Practice.
Are the schools doing what the people want
them to do? Ed. Rev. 21:459.
The situation as regards the course of study. Ed. Rev. 22:26.
1902. The evolutionary method as applied to
morality.
I Its scientific necessity. Phil. Rev. 11:107.
II Its significance for conduct. Phil. Rev. 11:353.
Interpretation of the savage mind. Psy. Rev. 9:217.
Academic freedom. Ed. Rev. 23:1.
Problems in secondary education. Sch. Rev. 19:13.
Syllabus of courses. El. Sch. 73:200.
The school as a social center. El. Sch. 73:563.
1903. Emerson: The philosopher of democracy. Int. Jour. Ethics 13:405.
Shortening the years of elementary school-
ing. Sch. Rev. 11:17.
The psychological and the logical in teach-
ing geometry. Ed. Rev. 25:386.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 47
1904. The philosophical work of Herbert Spencer. Phil. Rev. 13:159.
1906. Culture and industry in education. Ed. Bi-Monthly 1:1,
The Educational Situation.
1907. The life of reason. Ed. Rev. 34:116.
1908. (And Tufts) Ethics.
Religion and our schools. Hib. Jour. 6:796.
1909. Is nature good ? Hib. Jour. 7:827.
Moral Principles in Education.
1910. How We Think.
William James. Jour. Phil. 7:505.
1911. Is coeducation injurious to girls? Ladies Home Jour. 28:22.
Maeterlinck's philosophy of life. Hib. Jour. 9:765.
1913. Interest and Effort in Education.
An undemocratic proposal. Vocational Ed. 2:374.
Industrial education and democracy. Survey 29:870.
1914. Report on the Fairhope experiment in
organic education. Survey 32:199.
National policy of industrial education. New Republic, v. I.
Nature and reason in law. Int. Jour. Eth. 25:25.
WORKS ON TRUTH
(See also the list under 'Pragmatism').
1624. Herbert de Clerbury, E. De Veritate Prout Distinguitur a Revelatione, a
Possibiliti et a Falso.
1674. Malbranche, N. De la Recherche de la Verite.
1690. Locke, J. Essay Concerning the Human Understanding.
1780. Beattie, James. An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth.
1781. Kant, Im. Kritik der reinen Vernunft.
1780. Beattie, James. An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth.
1800. Kant, Im. Logik.
1811. Fries, J. System der Logik, p. 448 ff.
1817. Hegel, F. Encyclopadie. Sec. 21.
1826. Hume, D. Treatise on Human Nature, iv, sec. 2.
1842. Thomson, W. Outlines of the Necessary Laws of Thought.
1840. Abercombie, J. An Inquiry Concerning the Intellectual Powers and the
Investigation of Truth.
1854. Bailey, , Essays on the Pursuit of Truth.
1862. Tiberghien, G. Logique, v. 2, pp. 322-355.
1866. Hamilton, Sir Wm. Logic. Lectures 28-31.
1875. Forster, W. Wahrheit und Wahrschleinlichkeit.
1877. Jevons, W. S. The Principles of Science. 2nd ed., pp. 374-396.
1878. Schuppe, W. Logik. v. 1, pp. 622-696.
1880. Wundt, W. Logik.
1882. Bergmann, J. Die Grundprobleme der Logik. p. 96ff.
1884. Schulbert-Soldern, R. von. Grundlagen einer Erkenntnisstheorie. p. 156ff.
1885. Royce, J. The Religious Aspect of Philosophy.
1889. Argyle, Duke of What Is Truth ?
Stephen, L. On some kinds of necessary
truth. Mind 14:50,188.
1890. Carus, Paul The criterion of truth. Monist 1:229.
1892. Rickert, H. Der Gegenstand der Erkennt-
niss. Freib. pp. 63-64.
1893. Bradley, F. H. Appearance and Reality.
Chapters 16, 24.
Cousin, Victor Lectures on the True, the
Beautiful, and the Good.
Soyen, Shakn Universality of truth. Monist 4:161.
Miller, D. S. The meaning of truth and
error. Phil. Rev. 2:408.
Smith, W. Certitude. Phil. Rev. 2:665.
1894. Gordy, J. P. The test of belief. Phil. Rev. 3:257.
1895. Jerusalem, W. Die Urteilsfunction. p. 185ff.
Bosanquet, B. Essentials of Logic, pp.
69-79.
Sigwart, C. Logic, v. 1, pp. 295-326.
1896. Hodder, A. Truth and the tests of truth. Phil. Rev. 5:1.
Wundt, W. Ueber naiven und kritischen
Realismus. Phil. Studien 12:332.
1897. Brochard, Victor De L'Erreur.
Jordan, D. S. The stability of truth. Pop. Sci. Mo. 4:642, 749.
Striimpell, Ludw. Unterchiede der Wahr-
heiten und irrtiimer. p. 58.
1898. Baillie, J. B. Truth and history. Mind 7:506.
Powell, J. W. Truth and Error.
1899. Eisler, W. Worterbuch der philosophischen
Begriffe.
1900. Sidgwick, H. Criteria of truth and error. Mind 9:8.
1901. Creighton, J. E. Methodology and truth. Phil. Rev. 10:408.
French, F. C. The doctrine of the twofold
truth. Phil. Rev. 10:477.
Royce, J. The World and the Individual.
Smyth, J. Truth and Reality.
1902. Baldwin, J. M. Development and Evolu-
tion. Chapter 17.
Pritchett, What is truth ? Outlook 70:620.
1903. Duprat, Guillaume L. Le Mesonge. Etude
de psycho-sociologie pathologique et
normale.
Pilate's What is truth. Catholic World 77:705.
1904. Bradley, F. H. On truth and practice. Mind 13:309.
Glasenapp, G. v. Der Wert der Wahrheit. Zeitsch. f. Philos. u. phil.
Kr. 123:186, 124:25.
Rogers, A. K. James on humanism and
1905. Alexander, H. B. Phenomenalism and the
problem of knowledge. Jour. Phil. 2:182.
Alexander, H. B. Quantity, quality, and
the function of knowledge. Jour. Phil. 2:459.
Hyslop, J. H. Problems of Philosophy.
Chapter 7.
Joachim, H. H. 'Absolute' and 'relative'
truth. Mind 14:1.
Joseph, H. W. B. Professor James on 'hu-
manism and truth'. Mind 14:28.
Knox, H. V. Mr. Bradley's absolute criter-
ion. 14:210. Mind
Overstreet, H. A. Conceptual completeness
and abstract truth. Phil. Rev. 14:308.
Pitkin, W. B. Psychology of eternal truths. Jour. Phil. 2:449.
Taylor, A. E. Truth and practice. Phil. Rev. 14:265.
1906. Gore, George Scientific sketch of untruth. Monist 16:96.
Russell, B. The nature of truth. Mind 15:528.
Review of Joachim's The Nature of Truth. Nation 83:42.
Schiller, F. C. S. The ambiguity of truth. Mind 15:161.
Schiller, F. C. S. Joachim's The Nature of
Truth. Jour. Phil. 3:549.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 49
Taylor, A. E.Truth and consequences. Mind 15:81.
Openmindedness. Catholic World 82:756.
1908. Bakewell, C. M. On the meaning of truth. Phil. Rev. 17:579.
Creighton, J. E. The nature and criterion
of truth. Phil. Rev. 17:592.
Gardiner, H. N. The problems of truth. Phil. Rev. 17:113.
Moore, A. W. Truth value. Jour. Phil. 5:429.
Prat, J. B. Truth and ideas. Jour. Phil. 5:122.
Urbana, F. M. On a supposed criterion of
the absolute truth of some propositions. Jour. Phil. 5:701.
1909. Bradley, F. H. On truth and coherence. Mind 18:322.
Bradley, F. H. Coherence and contradiction. Mind 18:489.
Buckham, J. W. Organization of truth. Int. Jour. Eth. 20:63.
Carritt, E. F. Truth in art and religion. Hib. Jour. 8:362.
Knox, H. V. The evolution of truth. Quarterly Rev. No. 419.
1910. Alexander, H. B. Truth and nature. Monist 20:585.
Boodin, J. E. The nature of truth. Phil. Rev. 19:395.
Bradley, F. H. On appearance, error, and
contradiction. Mind 19:153.
Jacobson, Edmund Relational account of
Russell, B. Philosophical Essays. Essays
5, 6, 7.
Schmidt, Karl Hertz's theory of truth. Monist 20:445.
Tsanoff, R. A. Professor Boodin on the
nature of truth. Phil. Rev. 19:632.
Plea for the half-truth. Atlantic 105:576.
Truth as once for all delivered. Bib. World 35:219.
1911. Alexander, H. B. Goodness and beauty of
Boodin, J. E. The divine five-fold truth. Monist 21:288.
Boodin, J. E. The nature of truth: a reply. Phil. Rev. 20:59.
Boodin, J. E. Truth and Reality.
Bradley, F. F. On some aspects of truth. Mind 20:305.
Carus, Paul Truth on Trial.
McGilvary, E. B. The 'fringe' of William
James's psychology as the basis of logic. Phil. Rev. 20:137.
Rother, A. J. Certitude.
Royce, J. William James, and Other Es-
says.
Self-sufficiency of truth. Bib. World 37:147.
1912. Fawcett, E. D. Truth's 'original object'. Mind 21:89.
Larson, C. D. What Truth?
Is
Leuba, J. H. Religion and the discovery of
Review of Jordan's Stability of Truth. Int. Jour. Eth. 23:92.
Zahlf eisch, Johann 1st die Liige erlaubt ? Archiv. f. system.
Philos. 18:241.
1913. Alexander, S. Collective willing and truth. Mind 22:14,161.
Gerould, K. F. Boundarie of truth. Atlantic 112:454.
Lloyd, A. H. Conformity, consistency, and
Moore, A. W. The aviary theory of truth
and error. Jour. Phil. 10:542.
Wright, W. K. Genesis of the categories. Jour. Phil. 10:645.
Wright, W. K. Practical success as the
criterian of truth. Phil. Rev. 22:606.
1914. Bowman, A. A. The problem of knowledge
from the standpoint of validity. Phil. Rev. 23:1,146,299.
Bradley, F. H. Essays on Truth and Real-
ity.
Broad, C. D. Mr. Bradley on truth and
reality. Mind 23:349.
Capron, F. H. Anatomy of Truth.
Leighton, J. A. Truth, reality, and relation. Phil. Rev. 23:17.
Rother, A. J. Truth and Error.
Sidgwick, A. Truth and working. Mind 23:99.
Strange, E. H. Objectives, truth, and er-
ror. Mind 23:489.
WORKS ON PRAGMATISM
(See also the list under Truth').

1900. Caldwell, W. Pragmatism. Mind 9:433.
1902. Schiller, F. C. S. 'Useless' knowledge. Mind 11:196.
Schiller, F. C. S. Axioms As Postulates.
1903. King, Irving Pragmatism as a philosophi-
cal method. Phil. Rev. 12:511.
Schiller, F. C. S. Humanism: Philosophi-
cal Essays.
1904. Bawden, Heath What is pragmatism? Jour. Phil. 1:421.
Creighton, J E. Purpose as a logical cate-
gory. Phil. Rev. 13:284.
Leighton, J. A. Pragmatism. Jour. Phil. 1:148.
1905. Bode, B. H. Pure experience and the ex-
ternal world. Jour. Phil. 2:128.
Bode, B. H. The cognitive experience and
its object. Jour. Phil. 2:658.
Bode, B. H. The concept of pure exper-
ience. Phil. Rev. 14:684.
Hoernle, R. F. A. Pragmatism versus ab-
solutism. Mind 14:297,441.
King, Irving Pragmatic interpretation of
the Christian dogma. Monist 15:248.
Moore, A. W. Pragmatism and its critics. Phil. Rev. 14:284.
Schiller, F. C. S. The definition of 'prag-
matism' and 'humanism'. Mind 14:235.
1906. Bode, B. H. Realism and pragmatism. Jour. Phil. 3:393.
Colvin, S. S. Pragmatism, old and new. Monist 16:547.
Rogers, A. K. Professor James' theory of
knowledge. Phil. Rev. 15:577.
Rousmaniere, F. H. A definition of experi-
mentation. Jour. Phil. 3:673.
Russell, J. E. Pragmatism's meaning of
Russell, J. E. Some with the
difficulties
epistemology of pragmatism and radical
empiricism. Phil. Rev. 15:406.
Schiller, F. C. S. Pragmatism and pseudo-
pragmatism.
Sturt, H. Idola Theatri, a Criticism of Ox- Mind 15:375.
ford Thought and Thinkers from the
Standpoint of Personal Idealism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Vailati, Giovanni Pragmatism and mathe-

matical logic. Monist 16:481.
1907. Brown, W. A. Pragmatic value of the ab-
solute Jour. Phil. 4:459.
Bush, W. T. Papini on Introduzione al
prafmatismo. Jour. Phil. 4:639.
Foster, G. B. Pragmatism and knowledge. Am. Jour. Theol. 11:591.
Moore, A. W. Perry on pragmatism. Jour. Phil. 4:567.
Nichols, H. Pragmatism versus science. Jour. Phil. 4:122.
Papini, G. What pragmatism is like. Pop. Sci. Mo. 71:351.
Perry, R. B. A review of pragmatism as a
philosophical generalization. Jour. Phil. 4:421.
Perry, R. B. A review of pragmatism as a
theory of knowledge. Jour. Phil. 4:365.
Pratt, J. B. Truth and its verification. Jour. Phil. 4:320.
Review of Schiller's Humanism. Nation 84:436.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 53
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 55
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. VITA.
The writer was born in 1884 at Pomeroy, Ohio, and received his
earlier education in the country schools near that city. His college
preparatory work was done in the high school of Roswell, New Mexico,
from which he was graduated in 1906. He then entered immediately
the University of Wisconsin, and from this institution received the
Bachelor's degree in 1910 and the Master's degree in 1911. From 1911
he studied in the graduate
to 1914, while acting as fellow or as assistant,
school of the University of Illinois.

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THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH

AS DEVELOPED BY PEIRCE, JAMES,

DEN TON L. GEYER

THE PRAGMATIC THEORY OF TRUTH AS DEVELOPED

DENTON LORING GEYER

B.A. University of Wisconsin, 1910

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

THE PRAGMATIC DOCTRINE AS ORIGINALLY PRO-

JAMES'S EXPOSITION OF PEIRCE 17

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRAGMATIC DOCTRINE

THE THEORY OF TRUTH IN TRAGMATISM' AND THE

The Ambiguity of 'Satisfaction' 26

The Relation of Truth to Utility 29

THE PRAGMATIC DOCTRINE. Ap$T?EORTH BY DEWEY 35

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 41

proached, was to transcribe and interpret the feelings of other men.

fragmentary) treatment of truth as 'intuition' or 'coherence' or 'cor-

to the fact that most of the criticism of pragmatism is directed

refutations of such alleged pragmatisms as that anything is true which

happens to turn out well.

Pragmatism, Moore's Pragmatism and Its Critics, and others.

rMATIC DOCTRINE AS ORIGINALLY PROP<

ideas' realmeaning. The theory of truth defines the truth of our

the world's notice in 1898 by William James, who by his wonderful

afterwards presented to us in a clear form we do not recognize it as the

to its purpose, is it, but no part of it".

act in regard to such things as we believe to be wine according to the

qualities which we believe wine to possess. The occasion of sucrFaction

the sensible characters of wine, yet being in reality blood, is senseless

if we fancy that we have any other, we deceive ourselves, and mistake

a mere sensation accompanying the thought for a part of the thought

that he is defending is inconsistent with what he has laid down else-

opposition of Mars and eclipses of Jupiter's satellites a third by the

may be long postponed, and might indeed be preceded by a false belief

theory of desires to describe a new way of clearing

merits attention is subjected to severe but fair examination, and only

from individual opinion is brought out. The much-quoted paper on

method must be discovered which will determine truth entirely apart

fundamental hypothesis, restated in more familiar language, is this :

hypothesis is the sole support of my method of inquiry, my method of

i. If investigation cannot be regarded as proving that there are real

and conception on which it is based remain ever in harmony. No

what we mean by truth, and the object represented in this opinion

It iswell at this point to call attention to a distinction. It is to be

cussion of the real by defining it as "that whose characters are indepen-

In other words, when Peirce applies his method for clearness to

partaking of it produce", he seems to have the two senses of the word

produced somehow by means of our senses. But, when things partake

But he says similarly of belief, "Belief involves the establishment

their meaning in the sense that we understand which sensible effects

In inserting these theories of reality and of belief in this discussion

The interpretations of pragmatism which came particularly to the

directed mainly, however, against the looseness of popular usage. He

lit, in that most remarkable paper of his on Axioms as Postulates, upon

the designition 'pragmatism', which in its original sense was in generic

the original definition, he begs to announce the birth of the word

spoken protest, this time including in his repudiation the professional

an abstract logical analysis of it into its ultimate elements, or as com-

our knowledge of its nature is to discover and recognize just what