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Single Idea 18986
[filed under theme 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 9. Rejecting Truth
]
Full Idea
Truth for us is simply a collective name for verification-processes, just as 'health' is a name for other processes in life.
Gist of Idea
Truth is just a name for verification-processes
Source
William James (Pragmatism - eight lectures [1907], Lec 6)
Book Ref
James,William: 'Pragmatism - eight lectures' [Dover 1995], p.84
A Reaction
So the slogan is 'truth is success in belief'? Suicide and racist genocide can be 'successful'. I would have thought that truth was the end of a process, rather than the process itself.
The
20 ideas
from 'Pragmatism - eight lectures'
18972
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Ideas are true in so far as they co-ordinate our experiences
[James]
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18973
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New opinions count as 'true' if they are assimilated to an individual's current beliefs
[James]
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18974
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Truth is a species of good, being whatever proves itself good in the way of belief
[James]
|
18971
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Theories are practical tools for progress, not answers to enigmas
[James]
|
18976
|
Private experience is the main evidence for God
[James]
|
18975
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We return to experience with concepts, where they show us differences
[James]
|
18978
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It is hard to grasp a cosmic mind which produces such a mixture of goods and evils
[James]
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18977
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The wonderful design of a woodpecker looks diabolical to its victims
[James]
|
18979
|
Things with parts always have some structure, so they always appear to be designed
[James]
|
18980
|
If there is a 'greatest knower', it doesn't follow that they know absolutely everything
[James]
|
18981
|
'Substance' is just a word for groupings and structures in experience
[James]
|
18982
|
Pragmatism says all theories are instrumental - that is, mental modes of adaptation to reality
[James]
|
18985
|
True thoughts are just valuable instruments of action
[James]
|
18986
|
Truth is just a name for verification-processes
[James]
|
18984
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True ideas are those we can assimilate, validate, corroborate and verify (and false otherwise)
[James]
|
18983
|
In many cases there is no obvious way in which ideas can agree with their object
[James]
|
18987
|
A 'thing' is simply carved out of reality for human purposes
[James]
|
18989
|
Pragmatism accepts any hypothesis which has useful consequences
[James]
|
18991
|
If the God hypothesis works well, then it is true
[James]
|
18990
|
Nirvana means safety from sense experience, and hindus and buddhists are just afraid of life
[James]
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