The Meaning of Truth: a Sequel to Pragmatism

By William James

Book Overview

In Pragmatism James attacked the transcendental, rationalist tradition in philosophy and tried to clear the ground for the doctrine he called radical empiricism. The hook caused an uproar; it was greeted with praise, hostility, ridicule. Determined to clarify the pragmatic conception of truth, James collected nine essays he had written on this subject before he wrote Pragmatism and six written later in response to criticisms of that volume by Bertrand Russell and others. He published the collection under the title "The Meaning of Truth" in 1909, the year before his death. The Meaning of Truth shows James at his best--clear and readable as always, and full of verve and good humor. Intent upon making difficult ideas clear, he is also forceful in his effort to make them prevail.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0472061623
• ISBN13: 9780472061624
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Ann Arbor Paperbacks
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Intellectual Fun

In 1907 William James published a book of his recently delivered lectures called "Pragmatism" in which he detailed the links he found betwen the pragmatic frame of mind and the philosophical situation of his time. They caused a storm of controversy. Most particularly James's pragmatic musings on "truth" went down, with some, like a lead balloon. With "The Meaning of Truth" James meant to buttress his claims about truth and repel the barbs of his rationalistic enemies. The key essay in the book in many ways is the third "Humanism and Truth". "Humanism" is James's preferred name for pragmatism. Here James lays out his thesis on truth as being a matter of continuity of experience and of useful relations with things. James always resisted the notion, commonly ascribed to many so-called pragmatists and relativists, that they "make it all up". Here James suggests that experience as a control is no mere fancy. James claimed to be constrained in his theorising about truth and constrained by the world that is empirically there all around us.Read this book if you want a statement of James's position on truth or if you want pragmatist insights into the same topic. Or read it for plain intellectual fun. Its arguments are deceptively simple and particularly persuasive.

I'D RATE IT A 11 OUT OF 10!

This is a great book, I really recomend the reading. Talk about very important issues about men, woman and the society in general. Is very insteresting we undestand the live phases involving the person you are.