On The Historical Formation Cause And Social Impact Of William James' Pragmatism

From the Civil War to the early 20th century, is one of the most important historical phases in American history. In the historical period, the U.S. experienced the changing period of social transition from the traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial society. After the social transformation, the economic strength of the United States ranked first in the capitalist countries. And it brought about major changes in various aspects of American society. In the 1870's, William James had a series of lectures help pragmatism standing on the stage of American society, and created a true sense philosophy of United States.Pragmatism has formed a profound impact on American society. The general trend of pragmatism is all from practical needs, transforming and abandoning the well-worn ideas, concepts. It is to interpret history and treat reality with new ideas and ways, adapting to new social demands. With the spread of pragmatism, it went beyond the local spirit to the level of international significance. In the thesis, a large number of the relevant original data and civil material have been analyzed and cited. It got material from the research of the United States history, social background of U.S. in the late 19th century, the impact of European social thought and combined with James's life experiences, to discuss the causes of James's pragmatism, the characteristics of the theory and far-reaching impact on the U.S. economy, politics, law, religion, education, literature and the ideological field.There are four parts in the thesis, the preface, body, conclusions and references. The introduction describes some of the major U.S. academic research ideas for James, briefly describes the research methods and theoretical basis used by the author and so on. In the first chapter, mainly traces American history, recalling life experiences of the early American history as well as the formation of the national spirit of U.S. It is followed by the social background of "Gilded Age" that pragmatism produced. Chapter II, which focuses on the impact of European social thought, including social thought surging in the United States before the formation of pragmatism, and the European social thought that have affected the pragmatism. Chapter III, through the introduction of William James' life experience and the important organization "the metaphysical club"that composed by the excellent intellectual, to discuss the emergence of pragmatism. Chapter IV mainly discusses the essence of James' pragmatic theory and his contribution to the development of pragmatic theory. There is an analysis of the shortcoming of the James' pragmatism in it. Chapter V discusses the social impact of James' Pragmatism on society. It focuses on the impact of pragmatism on the American social values, Foreign Policy, Democracy, the Law Thought, Education Development and the Literature Thinking etc. Pragmatism is the product of a combination of several aspects, including the national spirit came from the U.S. history, the social background of American Gilded Age and the European social thought trend. Pragmatism met the trend of the times, have profoundly reflected the national consciousness of American truth-seeking. It has deeply affected the national consciousness of United States, has deeply infiltrated in all aspects of social life, and gradually developed into the social and cultural dominant spirit of United States.