Pragmatism: Archetypes Of Wisdom By William James

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William James
What is Pragmatism? What usefulness does this concept bring to the table of philosophy and how can we incorporate its practice into the daily lives of people? Moreover, where did Pragmatism come from and who advocated for its use? What impact did this thought have on history and what consequences will come in the future? Throughout the course of this paper, many facts will be brought to light from the shadow of uneducated ideas and beliefs. First will come history, because without history, no one would have any origins and may not understand the meaning of existence. The rest that follows will be an explanation of the philosophy of Pragmatism and the man behind it and how it still influences us today.
Pragmatism has been around …show more content…

According to the textbook Archetypes of Wisdom, “Determinism is the belief that everything that happens must happen exactly the way it does because all matter is governed by cause and effect and follows laws of nature.” (Soccio, pg. 437) James did, however, agree with a lot of moral philosophers about free will being a necessary condition of moral responsibility. Nevertheless, the reason James rejected the idea of determinism is because it simply denies the existence of free will, which pretty much says that humans cannot control their own destinies. James suggests that if determinism is right, then we as humans wouldn’t have any reason to feel remorse for someone being killed or murdered. Jamess states this as an argument, …show more content…

This is called The Pragmatic Paradox which is defined as, “Pragmatism only works if we believe that our ideas are true according to non-pragmatic criteria.”(Soccio, pg. 447) Religion is a perfect example of this. As stated above, there is cash value in believing in religion. Notwithstanding, the very definition of Pragmatism excludes things of the metaphysical nature, i.e. religion because they are abstract ideas which are not useful. See, there is a contradiction here and it is one of the main problems with pragmatism, and it would seem that to be a pragmatist, one cannot wholly be a pragmatist and except the idea of religion or anything else of

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