M. Hebert takes it to mean what most people take it to mean, the doctrine6, namely, that whatever proves subjectively7 expedient9 in the way of our thinking is ‘true’ in the absolute and unrestricted sense of the word, whether it corresponds to any objective state of things outside of our thought or not. Assuming this to be the pragmatist thesis, M. Hebert opposes it at length. Thought that proves itself to be thus expedient may, indeed, have every OTHER kind of value for the thinker, he says, but cognitive10 value, representative value, VALEUR DE CONNAISSANCE PROPREMENT DITE, it has not; and when it does have a high degree of general utility value, this is in every case derived11 from its previous value in the way of correctly representing independent objects that have an important influence on our lives. Only by thus representing things truly do we reap the useful fruits. But the fruits follow on the truth, they do not constitute it; so M. Hebert accuses pragmatism of telling us everything about truth except what it essentially12 is. He admits, indeed, that the world is so framed that when men have true ideas of realities, consequential13 utilities ensue in abundance; and no one of our critics, I think, has shown as concrete a sense of the variety of these utilities as he has; but he reiterates14 that, whereas such utilities are secondary, we insist on treating them as primary, and that the connaissance objective from which they draw all their being is something which we neglect, exclude, and destroy. The utilitarian15 value and the strictly16 cognitive value of our ideas may perfectly17 well harmonize, he says — and in the main he allows that they do harmonize — but they are not logically identical for that. He admits that subjective8 interests, desires, impulses may even have the active ‘primacy’ in our intellectual life. Cognition awakens18 only at their spur, and follows their cues and aims; yet, when it IS awakened19, it is objective cognition proper and not merely another name for the impulsive20 tendencies themselves in the state of satisfaction. The owner of a picture ascribed to Corot gets uneasy when its authenticity21 is doubted. He looks up its origin and is reassured22. But his uneasiness does not make the proposition false, any more than his relief makes the proposition true, that the actual Corot was the painter. Pragmatism, which, according to M. Hebert, claims that our sentiments MAKE truth and falsehood, would oblige us to conclude that our minds exert no genuinely cognitive function whatever.
This subjectivist interpretation23 of our position seems to follow from my having happened to write (without supposing it necessary to explain that I was treating of cognition solely24 on its subjective side) that in the long run the true is the expedient in the way of our thinking, much as the good is the expedient in the way of our behavior! Having previously25 written that truth means ‘agreement with reality,’ and insisted that the chief part of the expediency26 of any one opinion is its agreement with the rest of acknowledged truth, I apprehended27 no exclusively subjectivistic reading of my meaning. My mind was so filled with the notion of objective reference that I never dreamed that my hearers would let go of it; and the very last accusation28 I expected was that in speaking of ideas and their satisfactions, I was denying realities outside. My only wonder now is that critics should have found so silly a personage as I must have seemed in their eyes, worthy of explicit29 refutation.
The object, for me, is just as much one part of reality as the idea is another part. The truth of the idea is one relation of it to the reality, just as its date and its place are other relations. All three relations CONSIST of intervening parts of the universe which can in every particular case be assigned and catalogued, and which differ in every instance of truth, just as they differ with every date and place.
The pragmatist thesis, as Dr. Schiller and I hold it — I prefer to let Professor Dewey speak for himself — is that the relation called ‘truth’ is thus concretely DEFINABLE. Ours is the only articulate attempt in the field to say positively30 what truth actually CONSISTS OF. Our denouncers have literally31 nothing to oppose to it as an alternative. For them, when an idea is true, it IS true, and there the matter terminates; the word ‘true’ being indefinable. The relation of the true idea to its object, being, as they think, unique, it can be expressed in terms of nothing else, and needs only to be named for any one to recognize and understand it. Moreover it is invariable and universal, the same in every single instance of truth, however diverse the ideas, the realities, and the other relations between them may be.
Our pragmatist view, on the contrary, is that the truth-relation is a definitely experienceable relation, and therefore describable as well as namable; that it is not unique in kind, and neither invariable nor universal. The relation to its object that makes an idea true in any given instance, is, we say, embodied32 in intermediate details of reality which lead towards the object, which vary in every instance, and which in every instance can be concretely traced. The chain of workings which an opinion sets up IS the opinion’s truth, falsehood, or irrelevancy33, as the case may be. Every idea that a man has works some consequences in him, in the shape either of bodily actions or of other ideas. Through these consequences the man’s relations to surrounding realities are modified. He is carried nearer to some of them and farther from others, and gets now the feeling that the idea has worked satisfactorily, now that it has not. The idea has put him into touch with something that fulfils its intent, or it has not.
This something is the MAN’S OBJECT, primarily. Since the only realities we can talk about are such OBJECTS-BELIEVED-IN, the pragmatist, whenever he says ‘reality,’ means in the first instance what may count for the man himself as a reality, what he believes at the moment to be such. Sometimes the reality is a concrete sensible presence. The idea, for example, may be that a certain door opens into a room where a glass of beer may be bought. If opening the door leads to the actual sight and taste of the beer, the man calls the idea true. Or his idea may be that of an abstract relation, say of that between the sides and the hypothenuse of a triangle, such a relation being, of course, a reality quite as much as a glass of beer is. If the thought of such a relation leads him to draw auxiliary34 lines and to compare the figures they make, he may at last, perceiving one equality after another, SEE the relation thought of, by a vision quite as particular and direct as was the taste of the beer. If he does so, he calls THAT idea, also, true. His idea has, in each case, brought him into closer touch with a reality felt at the moment to verify just that idea. Each reality verifies and validates35 its own idea exclusively; and in each case the verification consists in the satisfactorily-ending consequences, mental or physical, which the idea was able to set up. These ‘workings’ differ in every single instance, they never transcend36 experience, they consist of particulars, mental or sensible, and they admit of concrete description in every individual case. Pragmatists are unable to see what you can possibly MEAN by calling an idea true, unless you mean that between it as a terminus a quo in some one’s mind and some particular reality as a terminus ad quem, such concrete workings do or may intervene. Their direction constitutes the idea’s reference to that reality, their satisfactoriness constitutes its adaptation thereto, and the two things together constitute the ‘truth’ of the idea for its possessor. Without such intermediating portions of concretely real experience the pragmatist sees no materials out of which the adaptive relation called truth can be built up.
The anti-pragmatist view is that the workings are but evidences of the truth’s previous inherent presence in the idea, and that you can wipe the very possibility of them out of existence and still leave the truth of the idea as solid as ever. But surely this is not a counter-theory of truth to ours. It is the renunciation of all articulate theory. It is but a claim to the right to call certain ideas true anyhow; and this is what I meant above by saying that the anti-pragmatists offer us no real alternative, and that our account is literally the only positive theory extant. What meaning, indeed, can an idea’s truth have save its power of adapting us either mentally or physically37 to a reality?
How comes it, then, that our critics so uniformly accuse us of subjectivism, of denying the reality’s existence? It comes, I think, from the necessary predominance of subjective language in our analysis. However independent and elective realities may be, we can talk about them, in framing our accounts of truth, only as so many objects believed-in. But the process of experience leads men so continually to supersede38 their older objects by newer ones which they find it more satisfactory to believe in, that the notion of an ABSOLUTE reality inevitably39 arises as a grenzbegriff, equivalent to that of an object that shall never be superseded40, and belief in which shall be endgueltig. Cognitively41 we thus live under a sort of rule of three: as our private concepts represent the sense-objects to which they lead us, these being public realities independent of the individual, so these sense-realities may, in turn, represent realities of a hypersensible order, electrons, mind-stuff. God, or what not, existing independently of all human thinkers. The notion of such final realities, knowledge of which would be absolute truth, is an outgrowth of our cognitive experience from which neither pragmatists nor anti-pragmatists escape. They form an inevitable42 regulative postulate43 in every one’s thinking. Our notion of them is the most abundantly suggested and satisfied of all our beliefs, the last to suffer doubt. The difference is that our critics use this belief as their sole paradigm44, and treat any one who talks of human realities as if he thought the notion of reality ‘in itself’ illegitimate. Meanwhile, reality-initself, so far as by them TALKED OF, is only a human object; they postulate it just as we postulate it; and if we are subjectivists they are so no less. Realities in themselves can be there FOR any one, whether pragmatist or anti-pragmatist, only by being believed; they are believed only by their notions appearing true; and their notions appear true only because they work satisfactorily. Satisfactorily, moreover, for the particular thinker’s purpose. There is no idea which is THE true idea, of anything. Whose is THE true idea of the absolute? Or to take M. Hebert’s example, what is THE true idea of a picture which you possess? It is the idea that most satisfactorily meets your present interest. The interest may be in the picture’s place, its age, its ‘tone,’ its subject, its dimensions, its authorship, its price, its merit, or what not. If its authorship by Corot have been doubted, what will satisfy the interest aroused in you at that moment will be to have your claim to own a Corot confirmed; but, if you have a normal human mind, merely calling it a Corot will not satisfy other demands of your mind at the same time. For THEM to be satisfied, what you learn of the picture must make smooth connection with what you know of the rest of the system of reality in which the actual Corot played his part. M. Hebert accuses us of holding that the proprietary45 satisfactions of themselves suffice to make the belief true, and that, so far as we are concerned, no actual Corot need ever have existed. Why we should be thus cut off from the more general and intellectual satisfactions, I know not; but whatever the satisfactions may be, intellectual or proprietary, they belong to the subjective side of the truth-relation. They found our beliefs; our beliefs are in realities; if no realities are there, the beliefs are false but if realities are there, how they can even be KNOWN without first being BELIEVED; or how BELIEVED except by our first having ideas of them that work satisfactorily, pragmatists find it impossible to imagine. They also find it impossible to imagine what makes the anti-pragmatists’ dogmatic ‘ipse dixit’ assurance of reality more credible46 than the pragmatists conviction based on concrete verifications. M. Hebert will probably agree to this, when put in this way, so I do not see our inferiority to him in the matter of connaissance proprement dite.
Some readers will say that, altho I may possibly believe in realities beyond our ideas Dr. Schiller, at any rate, does not. This is a great misunderstanding, for Schiller’s doctrine and mine are identical, only our exposition follow different directions. He starts from the subjective pole of the chain, the individual with his beliefs, as the more concrete and immediately given phenomenon. ‘An individual claims his belief to be true,’ Schiller says, ‘but what does he mean by true? and how does he establish the claim?’ With these questions we embark48 on a psychological inquiry49. To be true, it appears, means, FOR THAT INDIVIDUAL, to work satisfactorily for him; and the working and the satisfaction, since they vary from case to case, admit of no universal description. What works is true and represents a reality, for the individual for whom it works. If he is infallible, the reality is ‘really’ there; if mistaken it is not there, or not there as he thinks it. We all believe, when our ideas work satisfactorily; but we don’t yet know who of us is infallible; so that the problem of truth and that of error are EBENBURTIG and arise out of the same situations. Schiller, remaining with the fallible individual, and treating only of reality-for-him, seems to many of his readers to ignore reality-initself altogether. But that is because he seeks only to tell us how truths are attained50, not what the content of those truths, when attained, shall be. It may be that the truest of all beliefs shall be that in transsubjective realities. It certainly SEEMS the truest for no rival belief is as voluminously satisfactory, and it is probably Dr. Schiller’s own belief; but he is not required, for his immediate47 purpose, to profess1 it. Still less is he obliged to assume it in advance as the basis of his discussion.
I, however, warned by the ways of critics, adopt different tactics. I start from the object-pole of the idea-reality chain and follow it in the opposite direction from Schiller’s. Anticipating the results of the general truth-processes of mankind, I begin with the abstract notion of an objective reality. I postulate it, and ask on my own account, I VOUCHING51 FOR THIS REALITY, what would make any one else’s idea of it true for me as well as for him. But I find no different answer from that which Schiller gives. If the other man’s idea leads him, not only to believe that the reality is there, but to use it as the reality’s temporary substitute, by letting it evoke52 adaptive thoughts and acts similar to those which the reality itself would provoke, then it is true in the only intelligible53 sense, true through its particular consequences, and true for me as well as for the man.
My account is more of a logical definition; Schiller’s is more of a psychological description. Both treat an absolutely identical matter of experience, only they traverse it in opposite ways.
Possibly these explanations may satisfy M. Hebert, whose little book, apart from the false accusation of subjectivism, gives a fairly instructive account of the pragmatist epistemology.
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1
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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seceder
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| n.脱离者，分离者 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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subjectively
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| 主观地； 臆 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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cognitive
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| adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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consequential
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| adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的 | |
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reiterates
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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utilitarian
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| adj.实用的，功利的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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awakens
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的第三人称单数 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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authenticity
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| n.真实性 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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irrelevancy
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| n.不恰当，离题，不相干的事物 | |
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auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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validates
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| v.证实( validate的第三人称单数 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力 | |
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transcend
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| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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supersede
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| v.替代；充任 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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cognitively
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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postulate
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| n.假定，基本条件；vt.要求，假定 | |
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paradigm
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| n.例子，模范，词形变化表 | |
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proprietary
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| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
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credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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50
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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51
vouching
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| n.（复核付款凭单等）核单v.保证( vouch的现在分词 )；担保；确定；确定地说 | |
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52
evoke
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| vt.唤起，引起，使人想起 | |
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53
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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