The Partially Examined Life

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:07:51 — 234.2MB)

Reading Pragmatism by William James and “The Fixation of Belief” and “How to Make Our Ideas Clear” by Charles Sanders Peirce.

Is truth a primitive relation between our representations and things objectively in the world, or is it an analyzable process by which propositions “prove their worth” by being useful in some way, like by fitting well with other portions of our experience or being delicious?

Peirce, the inventor of pragmatism, focuses on the philosophy of science and thinks of inquiry as a way for us to just settle on any belief we can stomach. James, who popularized pragmatism, has a wider view that applies not only to science but to religious beliefs. If it makes you feel nice to believe in Hogwarts, should you do so?

The episode features guest podcaster Dylan Casey (previously from our quantum physics episode).

Read Pragmatism online or purchase it. Buy the Pierce essays togetheror read them online here and here. Another helpful resource we talk about is the chapter from James’s book The Meaning of Truth where he responds to objections.

End Song: “Friend” from 1998’s Mark Lint and the Fake Johnson Trio; the whole album is now free online.