PRAGMATISM IBD

Sinopse

Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking is an American philosophy classic by the great American writer and philosopher, William James.Pragmatismáis a philosophical approach that seeks to both define truth and resolve metaphysical issues. William James demonstrates an application of his method in the form of a simple story:A live squirrel supposed to be clinging on one side of a tree-trunk, while over against the treeâÇÖs opposite side a human being was imagined to stand. This human witness tries to get sight of the squirrel by moving rapidly round the tree, but no matter how fast he goes, the squirrel moves as fast in the opposite direction, and always keeps the tree between himself and the man, so that never a glimpse of him is caught.áThe resultant metaphysical problem now is this:áDoes the man go round the squirrel or not?James solves the issue by making a distinction betweenápracticalámeaning. That is, the distinction between meanings of 'round.'áRoundáin the sense that the man occupies the space north, east, south, and west of the squirrel, andároundáin the sense that the man occupies the space facing the squirrelâÇÖs belly, back and sides. Depending on what the debaters meant by 'going round,' the answer would be clear. From this example James derives the definition of theápragmatic method: to settle metaphysical disputes, one must simply make a distinction of practical consequences between notions, then, the answer is either clear, or the 'dispute is idle.'Both James and his colleague,áCharles Sanders Peirce, coined the term 'cash value.