Essay Questions

William James has focused on truth and pragmatism as one of his core themes in Pragmatism and Other Writings. Justify the verifiability of this theme.

According to James, the conception of unconditional genuineness is an erroneous belief. He is also of the opinion that truth is a philosophical top dog or reasonableness that requires autonomous verifiability. James argues, “Truth for us is simply a collective name for verification-processes.” Based on his postulation, philosophy allows the relativist method to determining what is true or false. Therefore, James believes that if truth cannot be determined through substantiation, then it is based on prejudiced faith and beliefs.

Does William James wind up things by using realistic inauguration to theological ideas?

William achieves the application of realistic conceptions through theological metaphor. He starts by applying the simile to compare man’s association with God to dogs and cats. He is clueless of greater ministries like the cats and dogs are. Man does not comprehend the mysteries of God but he associates well with him by following his commandments. No man has seen God but most people believe that He exists and he sees what men do in secret. He writes: “I believe rather that we stand in much the same relation to the whole of the universe as our canine and feline pets do to the whole of human life.”

Illustrate how Williams James uses the literary device of symbolism in Pragmatism and Other Writings.

The first symbol used by the author is the weather, which signifies the wider sense of the progression of understanding. The weather changes symbolize the extraordinary transitory of factual confirmation which does not match to unqualified truth. Just like the weather, facts change according to situations and time and people have to be ready to agree to changes in the truth to which these specifics align. Therefore, people should not have a fixed mindset when making judgments based on particular facts because they are subject to alterations.