American Philosophy
By Ki Hun Kim (kkim@Bayou.UH.EDU)
Phil 3387
for: C. Freeland
James begins his essay on Pragmatisms Conception of Truth by building up the basis of what it means when something is true, to which he states that the true is something that can be verified through experience; and this must be able to agree with what others also experience. He argues that it must be in the sense that ones truth must be verifiable by another person, just as the others truth must be verifiable by him.
But, it is not always necessary to verify what we consider to be true, for we know that Japan exists although weve never been there. In this case, he says that as along as there is potential for verifiability, then one can assume something to be true. However, truths are only used to serve our purpose, and depending on what our circumstances are, certain truths will give us the ability to act, thus benefiting us in some way. James gives the example of the belief in the cow path to show how this actually works. In everyday life, a cow path may not mean much to us, but to a lost person in the forest, that belief will serve him a great purpose, namely leading him back to safety. Had this person not had the belief that cow paths lead to a human beings house, he would not have followed it and would have probably died in the forest.
It must be remembered, though, that all the things that we assume to be true are all based on one or another verifiable truth. The verifiable truth is like the foundation on which other truths are built on. You take one validated truth, and based on that with other subsequent experiences, more truths are built; and this process repeats itself, allowing you to add on to the truth, chipping and polishing away at the old truth, or upon reflection and further experience, contradict your previous truth and enable you to reject the old truth as a truth.
Having set this up, James then makes the connection between truth and health, wealth, and strength. Consider for a moment how the three compared things are built up. Regarding health, one does not simply have a healthy body. It must be worked on and maintained. One must watch ones diet, exercise regularly, and do those things which are beneficial to the maintaining of ones health. The same is with wealth; at first, a person may not have much money, however he uses what little he has to make more money, and from that some more money, and so on. Wealth does not simply occur, for it must be created (like any material product). The same holds for the last example, strength. One is able to have strength only through exercise, and one is only able to maintain it through exercise. If an individual did not practice those things that made him healthy, wealthy, and strong, pretty soon, he will no longer have those three qualities. This, says James, is what truth is like. One truth builds another, which ultimately leads to having absolute truth, and in order to maintain it, one must further proceed to verify the beliefs, for only through habitual verification can one know for certain that the truths are truths.
Unfortunately, there are those who seem to think that pragmatism leads to self-interest and mere ends for profit. The response that automatically springs to my mind is Yes? What of it? The reason we have beliefs is to enable ourselves to act on them, and the only reason we take action is to fulfill our own goals. The goals will differ for each individual, but the reasons behind it are the same - its for their own end. I dont see how opponents of pragmatism can make this claim, for in so doing, they are only proving what they criticize to be true. Why do they criticize in the first place? Because they think pragmatism isnt the way to go. But what difference does this make on them? Well, they would like THEIR ideas and philosophies to be the leader of the pack, not pragmatism. But WHY are they doing it? Because thats what THEY believe to be the truth - and this is ultimately what James was trying to point out. We have beliefs, and verifications of them only strength those beliefs. If experience validates ones beliefs, more power to them. However, if ones experience contradicts, or at least shakes the particular belief held, then that is a sign for the individual to re-evaluate his belief.
Hence, because truths are based on the verification of beliefs
through experience, and because this system of creating the truths is
similar in process to that of health, wealth, and strength, it only leads
me to conclude that James was right and his opponents were wrong.
© Copyright 1996 Ki Hun Kim