William James had a very logical approach to things which I appreciate. In a world so full of people who simply believe in things because it's comfortable, feels right or because they are fearful of uncertainty, it is nice to find someone who had a more investigative approach. I think the question of 'Why do you believe this? How has this believe come to be?' should always be present and this is something that James promoted.
I do in fact have a problem with his opinion on truth though. He stated that what made something true is the usefullness of said belief. But this is so highly subjective you might as well throw all reasoning out of the window. Usefullness is definitely based on the individual and a society's view and practices and not a whole lot more. But on another hand I do agree in part with him. While I don't think something is true just because it proves usefull to someone I do believe there is some truth in any belief that is held. While the belief in santa claus is not objectively true it certainly affects the believer as if it were true in a lot of ways. If you belief something is true you will often base your actions around it and think in contect of it. And so it that respect while it may not be true you are still acting and thinking as if it were and therefore on some level it is true for you.
I see William James's point here that people who get the most production out of their belief can't be such a bad idea. I wonder if he himself shared Darwin's idea of the impossibility of knowing about who/what made us, what happens when we die, etc.
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Having truths relevant to a society would not have nessecarally been a bad thing about 200 years ago when societies had little to no interaction. But now when all societies are connected so well, it could be impeding human progress.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I wish you would elaborate. I doubt that belief in Santa Claus and other such menial things is impeding human progress, so I really want to know what you mean by that statement you made.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I don't care for William James's philosophy. I can't see him as a pragmatist if he believes that truth can be subjective in any way.
It is not so much Santa that would make a good example. But per say if a culture believes it is true that the first born is always evil and should be executed, and they refuse to observe that the first borns in other cultures are actually very productive, it is clear to see how it could slow progress.
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