CONTENTS

LECTURE I

THE PRESENT DILEMMA IN PHILOSOPHY

3

Chesterton quoted, 3. Everyone has a philosophy, 4. Tempera-

ment is a factor in all philosophizing, 7. Rationalists and empiricists,

9. The tender-minded and the tough-minded, 12. Most men wish

both facts and religion, 15. Empiricism gives facts without religion,

16. Rationalism gives religion without facts, 17. The layman's

dilemma, 19. The unreality in rationalistic systems, 21. Leibnitz

on the damned, as an example, 23. M. I. Swift on the optimism of

idealists, 27. Pragmatism as a mediating system, 31. An objection,

34. Reply: philosophies have characters like men, and are liable

to as summary judgments, 35. Spencer as an example, 39.

LECTURE II

WHAT PRAGMATISM MEANS

43

The squirrel, 43. Pragmatism as a method, 45. History of the

method, 46. Its character and affinities, 51. How it contrasts with

rationalism and intellectualism, 52. A 'corridor theory,' 54. Prag-

matism as a theory of truth, equivalent to ‘humanism,' 55. Earlier

views of mathematical, logical, and natural truth, 56. More recent

views, 57. Schiller's and Dewey's 'instrumental' view, 58. The

formation of new beliefs, 59. Older truth always has to be kept

account of, 60. Older truth arose similarly, 64. The ‘humanistic'

doctrine, 65. Rationalistic criticisms of it, 66. Pragmatism as

mediator between empiricism and religion, 69. Barrenness of

transcendental idealism, 71. How far the concept of the Absolute

must be called true, 73. The true is the good in the way of belief,

75. The clash of truths, 77. Pragmatism unstiffens discussion, 79.

LECTURE III

SOME METAPHYSICAL PROBLEMS PRAGMATICALLY CON-

SIDERED

85

The problem of substance, 85. The Eucharist, 88. Berkeley's
pragmatic treatment of material substance, 89. Locke's of per-

sonal identity, 90. The problem of materialism, 92. Rationalistic

treatment of it, 93. Pragmatic treatment, 96. 'God' is no better

than 'Matter' as a principle, unless he promise more, 100. Prag-

matic comparison of the two principles, 103. The problem of de-

sign, 109. 'Design' per se is barren, 113. The question is what

design, 114. The problem of 'free-will,' 115. Its relations to 'ac-

countability,' 116. Free-will a cosmological theory, 119. The prag-

matic issue at stake in all these problems is what do the alternatives

promise, 122.

LECTURE IV

THE ONE AND THE MANY

127

Total reflection, 127. Philosophy seeks not only unity, but totality,

130. Rationalistic feeling about unity, 131. Pragmatically consid-

ered, the world is one in many ways, 132. One time and space, 132.

One subject of discourse, 133. Its parts interact, 134. Its oneness

and manyness are co-ordinate, 137. Question of one origin, 138.

Generic oneness, 139. One purpose, 140. One story, 143. One

knower, 145. Value of pragmatic method, 148. Absolute monism, 149.

Vivekanda, 152. Various types of union discussed, 156. Conclusion:

We must oppose monistic dogmatism and follow the empirical

findings, 160.

LECTURE V

PRAGMATISM AND COMMON SENSE

165

Noetic pluralism, 166. How our knowledge grows, 167. Earlier

ways of thinking remain, 169. Prehistoric ancestors discovered the

common sense concepts, 170. List of them, 173. They came grad-

ually into use, 174. Space and time, 177. "Things,' 178. Kinds,

179. 'Cause' and 'law,' 180. Common sense one stage in mental

evolution, due to geniuses, 180. The 'critical' stages: 1) scientific

and 2) philosophic, compared with common sense, 185. Impossible

to say which is the more 'true,' 192.

LECTURE VI

PRAGMATISM'S CONCEPTION OF TRUTH

197

The polemic situation, 197. What does agreement with reality

mean? 198-217. It means verifiability, 201. Verifiability means

ability to guide us prosperously through experience, 202. Com-

pleted verifications seldom needful, 207. 'Eternal' truths, 209.

Consistency, 210; with language, 213; with previous truths, 214.

Rationalist objections, 218. Truth is a good, like health, wealth,

etc., 220. It is expedient thinking, 222. The past, 223. Truth

grows, 224. Rationalist objections, 226. Reply to them, 229.

LECTURE VII

PRAGMATISM AND HUMANISM

239

The notion of the Truth, 239. Schiller on 'Humanism,' 242.

Three sorts of reality of which any new truth must take account,

244. To 'take account' is ambiguous, 245. Absolutely independent

reality is hard to find, 248. The human contribution is ubiquitous

and builds out the given, 250. Essence of pragmatism's contrast

with rationalism, 257. Rationalism affirms a transempirical world,

259. Motives for this, 260. Tough-mindedness rejects them, 262.

A genuine alternative, 264. Pragmatism mediates, 266.

LECTURE VIII

PRAGMATISM AND RELIGION

273

Utility of the Absolute, 273. Whitman's poem 'To You,' 274.

Two ways of taking it, 276. My friend's letter, 278. Necessities

versus possibilities, 282. 'Possibility' defined, 283. Three views

of the world's salvation, 284. Pragmatism is melioristic, 286. We

may create reality, 287. Why should anything be? 288. Supposed

choice before creation, 290. The healthy and the morbid reply, 291.

The 'tender' and the 'tough' types of religion, 293. Pragmatism

mediates, 297.

I

THE DILEMMA IN PHILOSOPHY