The sun., 1908-08-09
WHAT rs rRAoMar1sM,I ,I''

give the new movement prominent place
II IL discussed on mountain and at the sea-
shore as II 1t were some portentous event
like the arrival within our atmosphere of O
threatening comet or q, freshly hatched
religion. Perhaps some day it may be-
come a religion The attractive lectures
OF Professor William James, the growing
interest in tho writings Of Nietzsche, the
books Of Dewey and Schiller particularly
the latter thinkers sHumanism'- point
TO states OF feeling on the part Of our read
ing public which betoken the advent OF
something novel and OF genuine import.
And IL is true that pragmatism offers to the
speculative mind plenty Of problems. It's
ugly title. with It's oonnotations Of SELF
conceit, meddlesomenees and bumptious-
ness ismisleading. Professor James wittily
calls It an old thing with new name; In
q phrase, new wine In old bottles. But
your true pragmatist is the reverse Of the
dictionary definition. He is as Indifferent
as the ocean in his views OF the universe;
a latitudinarian. compared with whom
that rapidly Vanishing individual the
agnostic is a mugwump. The agnostio
hopelessly dropped his hands before the
riddles OF life, but the praEmatist does
uOJ tiDuikS III buCu u ub0lSHoB Bcctuc. LIMO
Ieer Gynt. he goes around; evadea the
real hard and fact issues. He knows bis
theory to be good waiting ground. and from
1t he proorastinatingly surveys the cosmos
with gentle Curiosity. He In nothing II net
tolerant, all things % all men and all faiths.
He is too sweet to be true. To the anxious
interrogator OF spiritual uncertainties he
says: 'Waitl We are on the wide stream
Of consciousness. What may now seem
to you inexplioable may be clear when we
drift further down." They do drift. The
landscape on eitherbank OF the river changes
continually. -see.' says the pragmatist.
-such is truth. A chameleon. Ever chang
Ing. My truth may not be your truth.
As there are 80 many humans on the globe
20 are there as many Truths Comforted,
tho anxious one may 60 on dry land to rob.
kill or outrage II his conscience says him
yea. But he Is then an extreme case. He
has criminal instincts. With such rude souls
Professor James does not deal. Why should
her Butt may be pragmatism in the end.
-The true. to put 1t Very briefly, James
says In his first lecture. "is only the ex-
pedient In our way of thinking, just a.
tho right is only the expedient In the way
Of our behaving
That 10, truth Ia justified II It's oonse-
quenoes are useful to you. In . certain
sense we are all pragmatists. just AZ N.
Jourdain spoke prose for q long time with
out knowing 1t. The novelty Of the idea
dates back to the hills. before Protagoras
had discovered that man 10 the measure Of all
things. Professor James mentions Aristotle
as an early pragmatist. but does not speak
Of Thomas OF Aquinas. though the angeli-
cal doctor -humanized' Aristotle for the
Christian world. Old, Terence has been
pressed into service with his sHomo sum.
humani nihila me alienfim puto.' Wasn't
Saint Paul pragmatio when he spoke OF
faith and good oworksf Pragmatio is
to be practioal-its Greek root 30 signifies.
What OF Goethe and his question: what
ls the value OF this to me now3' Pure
pragmstism. And Renan with his, fasci-
mating PyThonisn. with his theory Of q
world ever in the process Of creation. or
is his precise word And
our egoistio friend Max Stirner. an ex-
trene Hegelian. whose mstto is MY truth
ID the truth" Are not all political op-
portunists pragmatistsi Pope Plus x.
was pragmatist when he denounced Mod !,
ernisun, and Professor James would be the
first to aoknowledge him a such. for modern
thought, modern science. arc repuenant to
the Holy Father; they are not practical
truths for him-knowing - he does the
ever changing struths' Of science (oorn- =
pare for example the evolution OF Lamarck
and Darwin with the evolutionary theories.
the Transformism Of Quinton. today.
Professor James declares that God In not q
gentleman Villlefs do rIsle Adam
proves him q pragmatist in his tronioal
.sTribula& Bonhomet. God asks OF Bonho-
met: ~Quand jetteres-vous 10 masqusi'
1Mais apres vous, Ssignsuri' responds
Bonholnet.
PraRuaatispa, then. while no new thing.
10 nevertheless propoundod a . Theory Of
truth. Truth means agreement with
reality, and all truths must be valued for
their practical consequences Nature alb
hors an absolute. There u no absolute in
knowledge or belief. II q man says thss
he Ia hot he 10 hot for himself though the
Thermometer is at zero. In effect Pro.
fessor jones would deny the absolute ofehs
Thermometer; though not the validity OF
tho mans assertion that he was hot. An
idealism, all ratiopalism, all ideas bassd
on an absolute, on the infinite, are hks the
4. O., they are relative, though
they may do you lot Of good. A Turk.
q Hebrew. an atheist. Christian. may bs
sound Pragmatists. Indeed. there u moth
ing 90 hospitable a. pragmatism-which,
ssoording TO ita professors. ID not philoso-
2hy but only aworeing theory. an attitude
Of utility, a method. rather than systsn;
q speoies OF sophistioal picklock that b b
open up all the metaphysical banks and 10
veal their bankruptcy. James speaks W.T.
tily Of Kant sas tho rarest and most comph-
Gated OF sll the brio-A-brao Yuuseums' that
Kant, who II the greatest moral uihillst
among modern thinkers. q denier compared
TO whom Max Stirncr h Q bubbling we'll
spring OF afirmations.
IL II possible for man-not q 3ellyhsh--to
be without his skeleton, for faith to exist
without dogmsi Rrssnnatism a. jellyhsh
floats serenely in the tspid waters OF op-
portinism.
But man ha, bcen called and Ia q meta
physical animal. The artistic spider that
spins In the dark oells OF every thinkers
brain is already at work with the pragmatio
idea. Its originator, Professor Charles
Sanders Peiroe lin 1877 and 1878 he first
spread the good tidings). oonfessee that his