post 4

a) James says “The whole function of philosophy ought to be to find out what definite difference it will make to you and me, at definite instants of our life, if this world-formula or that world-formula be the true one” in his lecture “What Pragmatism Means”. In this quote James is saying that the key concern of pragmatism is to define what the truth for a given person at a given moment in time. He is saying that the point of philosophy is to determine these truths and look towards cause and effect when determining what is true.

b) To me the primary flaw in pragmatic thought is that it doesn’t account for notions like the ironies that are prevalent in our life. Pragmatism’s quest for truth tends to ignore the idea that the ideas and mental actions we make directly effect our world in such a way as to directly influence reality. The world is not a fixed object so the act of observing or defining automatically has a dramatic effect. In other words pragmatism doesn’t allow for the butterfly to flap his wings and create a hurricane or the thoughts to be mirrored in reality just because we think them.

c) I think pragmatism is certainly an adequate approach to philosophy. Its greatest strength is that it is practical and useful on a daily basis. It also heavily encourages scientific thought and progress. Its weakness is that it is a rather limited, narrow, and pessimistic approach to life. Furthermore, one must ask which is more important the process of pursuing an answer or actually finding the answer.