# Lecture VII: Pragmatism and Humanism explained — Pragmatism

> Chapter companion for Pragmatism by William James.

## What happens

James argues that truth is not a single, eternal, or absolute entity but a human-made product that grows and evolves through experience. He introduces F.C.S. Schiller's 'Humanism,' which holds that truths are man-made and that the world is plastic, shaped by human motives and satisfactions. James contrasts the pragmatist view of an unfinished, pluralistic universe with the rationalist view of a complete, monistic universe, emphasizing that truth is constructed within finite experiences and that reality is inseparable from human contributions.

## Themes in this chapter

### Pragmatic Theory of Truth

James argues that truth is not a fixed, absolute entity but a human-made product that evolves through experience, grafting onto previous truths.

### Pluralism and Meliorism

James contrasts the pragmatist view of an unfinished, pluralistic universe with the rationalist monistic universe, emphasizing growth and human contribution.

### Humanism Defended

James defends Schiller's Humanism, which holds that truths are man-made and that the world is plastic, shaped by human motives and satisfactions.

## Character check-ins

### F. C. S. Schiller

James introduces Schiller's doctrine of Humanism, which asserts that truths are man-made products and that the world is plastic, shaped by human motives and satisfactions.

### Pragmatism

Pragmatism is presented as the philosophical stance that truth grows within finite experiences and that the universe is unfinished and pluralistic.

### The Absolute

The Absolute is referenced as the rationalist ideal of a complete, eternal, and unalterable reality that underpins the mutable world.

### Immanuel Kant

James compares Schiller's view of the sensible core of reality to Kant's categories, noting the chasm between rationalism and empiricism.

### Swami Vivekananda

Vivekananda's mystical One is cited as an example of the rationalist conception of an absolute, timeless reality.

### John Dewey

Dewey is mentioned alongside Schiller as treating the sensible core of reality as a 'limit'.

## Key lines

> Truth grafts itself on previous truth, modifying it in the process, just as idiom grafts itself on previous idiom, and law on previous law.

Truth evolves by building upon and altering earlier truths, similar to how language and legal systems develop incrementally.

_James illustrates the pragmatic view of truth as a dynamic, cumulative process._

> The world is essentially υλη , it is what we make of it. It is fruitless to define it by what it originally was or by what it is apart from us; it is what is made of it.

The world is raw material that we shape; its nature is determined by our actions and interpretations, not by any original or independent essence.

_James quotes Schiller to emphasize the plasticity of reality and the human role in constructing truth._

> We receive in short the block of marble, but we carve the statue ourselves.

We are given raw sensory experience, but we actively shape and interpret it to form our understanding.

_James uses the metaphor of sculpture to describe how human minds impose order and meaning on reality._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/pragmatism_se/chapters/lecture-vii-pragmatism-and-humanism
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/pragmatism_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/pragmatism_se/chapters