The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29

r. a. Pop tells u ths proper study
Of mankind y man. philosophy,
which claims 70 b supreme among
human scfenoes. should bring forward
some not aitossther inadequate answes
to the riddle Of huma existence.
But what philosophy u trusf Are
vs to Determine the truth Of . philos.
ophy BY the likabieness Of the 70
plies It gives to our q~uestionings7
The late william James has almost
persuaded a goodty portion OF modern
thinkers Of something very nearly akin
70 that in his philosophy of pragmatism-
II Is obvious that only that philosophy
10 OF value which brings the human mind
as near to tho truth as the human
mind is capable of getting. But the
average man should be loath to cast over
board the conviction tina has been the
common heritage OF our race that there
Ii really some such thing AZ objective
truth attainable in man and that this
truth Is quite Independent of It's adapt
ability to supply some pressing need
of body or heart No one can deny thu
convenience of pragmatism- One may
shut his eyes to all objective reality
save that which is helpful to him
Perhaps We may DO able to discover
that the far famed Dr.. Cook, whose
towering laurels Of n0v soon mek
WIKI a worse than arctic frost, was after
all only a pragmatie philosopher. to
whom bis discovery Of the north pole
was . truth because It was 50 benea-
cial to him to hold II true.
From this point Of view pragmatlsm
seems but . halfway house to Mn
Eddy's Christian Science whose title
= the most brilliant instance of lucus
. non lucendo these latter years havs
produced.
Since tho decease Of Prof. William
James the philosophy Of NJ. Henri Berg
son has been steadily gaining ground
In America His theory of knowledge
y based on the same general principle
that James employed. but he has dis
covered there is nothing whatever static
about existing things, that everything
Is dynamic there Is no such thing as
substance. but only change or becom-
Ing. lie does not make it clear how
there can be a change without some
thing TO undergo the changes and there
seem TO be no hopes that he ever Will.
We also hold that the prospect OF prov
ing the hypothesis offered TO our child
ish mind that the moon Is made Of
green cheese is very slight indeed. The
views OF VI. Bergson were preached
more than 1000 years Ego by Heracll-
tus. though not with the subtle and
persuasive charm the up TO date French
man has inherited from the ages. NJ.
Bergson and Prof. James are easily
~reconciled so far AS the human soul
is concerned, for the former Harvard
professor tells that the passing thought
Is itself tho thinker which appropr!-
ates all past thoughts in the stream OF
Consciousness. The metaphor OF the
flowing river whose identity remains
the same despite the ever changing
water which flows In 1t is very subtly
suggestive. They tell US that every
comparison limps, but here we have one
that is so very lame that il would not
go at all except in the vehicle Of Will
lam James's fascinating style, II 10
the practical permanence OF its sur
roundings that gives an apparent iden-
tity TO the varying waters OF the river.
Besides. the water itself is a substance,
while thought is the modification of
our intellect. just as light is the modi-
hoation OF our visual faculty. But
we must ever keep before the mind s
eyes that Unborn conviction that thought
represents a reality as surely as does
sight.
There seems indeed little hope OF our
ending our quest at the feet OF James or
OF Bergson. or for that matter at Royce's
feet or schiller's or Dewey's. All these
up to date philosophers bring US but the
latest Towering Of the tree planted by
Descartes and on which SO many
branches have been grated In the quar-