Summary of “Pragmatism and Truth”: (by Claude-instant-100k)
- Pragmatism is a view in which the “truth” of a thought or idea is judged in terms of whether it is useful or useless in real life.
- Pragmatism believes that truth is formed and developed in experience. Truth is the ideas that guide experience and solve problems.
- We believe that “truth” as a definition is too abstract to be meaningful, and we insist that truth is something that can be verified with concrete examples.
- Related: Knowledge must be proven by deeds.
- It takes positivism in opposition to the idealistic position and defines truth as an idea that conforms to the facts.
- Pragmatism acknowledges the possibility of relative truth rather than absolute truth.
- We regard truth as something that changes as experience develops.
- Truth changes.
- Related: Bayesian update.
- We argue that both philosophy and science pursue ideas that are useful for human life. The above is a summary of pragmatism (🤖PRAGMATISM) by William James. The pragmatic approach holds that truth is a dynamic concept that is formed and developed in experience.
Explain more about The One and the Many
It is a question that forces us to make a fundamental choice about the real world: unity or diversity. (by Claude-instant-100k)
- From the standpoint of existentialism, the world is made up of a variety of individual entities, and it is difficult to find coherence in the whole (pluralism).
- On the other hand, the idealistic position takes the view (monism) that there is an intrinsic coherence to the world and that diverse phenomena are derived from a single principle.
- James makes the following points in response to this issue
- The monism that asserts that the world is a single entity with perfect coherence is not true.
- The pluralist position that the world contains diversity and the potential for self-growth is also valid.
- I believe there is partial consistency in the world, but there is no absolute single principle.
- The world is considered to be incomplete and is formed and completed by human activity.
- We argue that monism and pluralism are not mutually exclusive positions and can be compatible.
- In other words, pragmatism holds that while there is partial coherence and interdependence in the world, there is no perfect single principle. It can be said that pragmatism adopts a flexible attitude that recognizes both monism and pluralism.
Why is it possible to have both pluralism and monism?
James cites the following reasons for the compatibility of pluralism and monism. (by Claude-instant-100k)
- Although partial coherence and interdependence are recognized in the world, there is no absolute single principle.
- The world is incomplete and in the process of continuing to be formed and perfected by human activity.
- We believe that truth is not a “match” with facts, but an idea that works within experience.
- As experience expands evolutionarily, past truths are modified.
Specifically, the following points are considered to be reasons for compatibility
- While there are various individual entities in the world (pluralism), there are also interdependent relationships (monistic elements).
- No absolute single principle, but partial consistency is allowed.
- Truth is a concept that functions in experience, not agreement, so truth also changes evolutionarily
- In an incomplete worldview, past views of truth are also modified by new discoveries.
In short, the rationale for compatibility is that the world and truth are in the process of evolving, and therefore flexible perceptions are possible rather than fixed ideas.
This page is auto-translated from /nishio/実用主義と真理 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.