James’ Theory Of Truth And An Appraisal On It

As one of the main representatives of pragmatism,William James has a unique insight on pragmatic theory of truth.His theory of truth is the core concept for his philosophy.The pragmatic theory of truth and its meaning defined by James is different from truth from the perspective of Western logocentrism.He emphasizes the subjectivity of truth and denies the basic rule of traditional theory of truth that the subjectivity must be in conformity with the objectivity.James’ s theory of truth comes out of some philosophers’ thoughts.“Knowledge is power” is said by Bacon.Bacon said that knowledge can transfer into productivity,create wealth and meet people’s requirements.Utilitarianism is put forward by Bentham.He believed that principle of Utilitarian is to see if it can bring happiness to relevant people.Will to Power is proposed by Nietzsche.He thought “Life is will to power”,which is the highest criterion for building truth.As the foundation of all value,it is the standard for judging value and the highest measurement of value.Pierce said the real thing is satisfying thing in the process of cognition.That is to say the truth people believe in can bring satisfactory results to people.There is a logical order of basic content for James’ theory of truth.That means truth is useful;truth is a kind of interest;truth is a kind of belief;truth is a kind of method;and its effect is the judging criterion of truth.The subjectivity of truth means that the subject can build a truth according to their own willing.Truth is not an objective fact,while it’s a method and way that can be built and preserved as the subject’s interest.Truth has become a kind of useful tool.Instrumentality truth generates the commonality impacting on the subject that decides the subject’s cognitive on psychological.The subject believes this kind of commonality is good and kind.This is almost certainly belief of the pragmatist.The evaluation criteria and building standard of the commonality truth is to have an effect on the subject.There are rationalities and limitations of James’ theory of truth.The persistence of the outlook on pragmatic truth on function and effect tends to guarantee the subject’s interests and make the subject insisting on and protecting of the truth moreresolute.This paper systematically presents the thought source of James’ pragmatic theory of truth and its content.And he points out that truth is a kind of instrumental method that the subject builds it for their own purposes in subjective mind.And it can judge,build and amend truth through the criterion of its effects.There are rationalities and limitations of the truth built according to subjectivity.