William James on Pragmatism

The pragmatic approach "is to try to interpret each notion by tracing its respective practical consequences. What difference would it practically make to any one if this notion rather than that notion were true?" (142).

This is an easy matter to determine with respect to the first issue raised by James---the question of whether the man goes "round" the squirrel on the tree. It is quite obvious that it makes no practical difference to anybody whether the man goes round the squirrel or not.

It also obviously did not matter much, if anything at all, to James's era, which one of two notions was correct with respect to atomic activity. However, to our era it has certainly meant a great deal and, in fact, has been one of the most pragmatically significant considerations facing the entire world for the last fifty years. In fact, the era was actually for a time referred to as the "Atomic Age."

Any advocate of pragmatism, then, should utilize the method with a good measure of humility, for what may seem to be an insignificant issue today may prove to be quite pragmatically significant tomorro

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always on the move, and that constant motion is exhiliratingly reflected in the run-on narrative style of Faulkner. Henry Miller, in his essay "Into the Night Life," explores not the night life of the city but the night life of the unconscious, the reality of dreams and nightmares. Miller's portrait of the unconscious is both horrifying and invigorating, and that is precisely what Miller intends. His approach to life and art is based on a belief in the irrational energy at the heart of human existence, and that belief is reflected at every turn in this remarkable journey through the unconscious. Miller's piece is a complete puzzle to the reader who expects to make rational sense of it, for it will never yield its secrets to an analytical approach. This does not mean that the piece makes no sense, only that the sense it does make is a symbolic one which defies or transcends the logical mind, just as the events and objects of a dream combine to confound the waking mind. Miller writes, for example, "Winding a pair of cobras about my arms I go for the old hag with murder in my eyes. From her mouth, her eyes, her hair, from her vagina even, the cobras are streaming forth. . . . In the middle of the room where we are locked an immens
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2451
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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