Word: pragmatist
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Toward the end of his life James propounded the doctrine of "radical empiricism." He regarded it as independent of pragmatism--that is, one may completely reject it and remain a pragmatist. But he came to consider this doctrine more fundamental and more significant than the pragmatic principle. James states the basic claim of his radical empiricism as follows...
...conscious will but by his unconscious drives. Sociology, invented by the French Philosopher Auguste Comte?who visualized a scientific religion worshipping a "great being" that was actually humanity itself?says that man is only the product of his environment. No votary of Comte's, the American pragmatist William James told the individual that he stands at the very center of his world, and yet in the end everything in the pragmatic view of man is relative and transitional. How much use the philosopher is in this situation is perfectly summarized by the note found on James's desk after...
...unsystematic excursions should have foretold the nature of his later devotion to philosophical studies. After less than three years in the scientific division of the College, James transferred to the Medical School--he obtained an M.D. degree in 1869. Like Henry Adams, and in sharp contrast to his fellow pragmatist, Charles Sanders Peirce, James had not distinguished himself as a student. He had evidently browsed, listened to the luminaries, and talked a good deal...
...common sense and opportunism. Indeed, inasmuch as it advocates belief in propositions that provide satisfaction, it is the age-old philosophy of the common man. The opportunist who cares not a white either for ethics or selfconsistency might be termed a "soft" to get into trouble. The "hard" pragmatist seeks to avoid the eventual plight of his less scrupulous comrade by two tactics. First, he looks upon life as a constant quest for new and higher values. Secondly, he remains ever flexible, ever ready to adjust his ideas in order that the new values may be incorporated into a coherent...
...firms ranging from banking to fisheries and turning handsome profits that in some years ran as high as $2,500,000. Though he insisted that he had been a socialist for 20 years and intended to remain one for 20 more, in fact, he was a tough-minded pragmatist who openly advocated cooperation with private industry...