Philosophy 1000
Student: David Santa Cruz
Professor: Alexander Izrailevsky
William James
In response to the request to write about my favorite philosopher, I will discuss the
life of William James and his philosophy. I will also share my insights and opinions
in regard to his Philosophy. This philosopher in particular stood out to me among
the rest we have studied and examined in class. For some reason I seemed to relate
with his logic and way of thinking. Though I don’t agree with him on every point, I
understand the fundamentals of his philosophy and the basis of his arguments. One
of the reasons I was so fascinated with James was because as we discussed his
philosophy, although we don’t completely see eye to eye, I was able to not only
connect with him on more levels than the other philosophers but also rediscover my
own beliefs. I will be focusing mainly on what James recognizes as “truth”.
I will also discuss his take on “morality” and why he believes “the moral evil” to be
what he believes it to be. That being said I will start with his life as a backdrop.
William and his brother Henry were two geniuses in one family. One was a genius
philosopher and the other a genius writer. They competed against, but loved and
supported each other. William was born in an extremely wealthy, Yankee family
from the area of New York. His father provided both sons a super education in
America and all around Europe. This was and probably still is the best possible
western education. James was technically a medical doctor and graduated from
Harvard med school. In addition he was a well know psychologist. With those two
disciplines as his intellectual foundation, he made his way over to Philosophy.
Independently, American Philosophy does not exist. It is merely an appendage of the
beautiful tree named the British Philosophy. American culture is the way it is in
large part because of European culture. Thus, much of this American philosopher’s
thinking is a product of European influence. Consequently, his views are but an
outgrowth of those of the many Philosophers who preceded him. As perhaps the
foundation of his philosophy, William James answers the question, “What is Truth?”
He says, it is not something abstract, objective, theoretical, rational, a priori. It is
something empirical, factual, and subjective.
More than anything, he emphasized that it is something subjective and NOT
something objective. It is not something for everyone collectively. “Subjective truth”
is different for each individual. Truth is always a personal truth, something one
personally believes in, something one trusts. Even though a scientist or philosopher
may be brilliant, one’s particular brilliance does not always guarantee them a
following of like-minded individuals. Regardless of who believes what, it is not
something others may embrace until their individual experience and understanding
leads them along a path of similar philosophy. Truth is “the will to believe”. What
does it mean to believe? What is the difference between thinking and believing?
William James might say, “to think” is not the end product but “to believe,” suggests
the process of thinking is over. Finding something to believe in drives all American
intellectual culture. To say, “I believe” is to attach my heart or personality to
something. To say, for example, I believe in America indicates passion for America
on the part of the individual. To put this aspect of “what truth is” in perspective, we
can look around us and find an ordinary wall. We can look at that wall and decide
for ourselves (because it is ONLY ourselves that can decide our own truth) if that
wall is dirty or clean. Lets say we agree that the wall is dirty. Is it true? Is the wall
really dirty? To someone else it might be clean but even to oneself it is not dirty until
one does something about it. So one must believe the wall is dirty and as a result of
that belief do something to clean it. A plan must be put together to clean the wall.
Then to say that wall is dirty becomes a personal truth. This sheds light on yet
another aspect of William James’ philosophy, that truth is a business plan. For me,
truth, like faith, involves the idea of and is closely related to action. “We decide
whether or not an idea is true by ‘testing’ it.” It requires us to be firm in sustaining
and standing by our conviction. I would go a little bit further as to say truth becomes
knowledge. Just because we don’t know whether something is true or not doesn’t
mean it’s not true. It may not be important to us because we don’t know the fruits of
acting in accordance with such a truth. Just like a thought develops into a belief, a
belief or personal truth develops into knowledge and then our truths are open for
change depending on the knowledge we embrace. This process can take place in
anyone’s life. In other words we have to try certain principles or truths to see if they
yield the results we are searching. If they do not, we discontinue their application. If
they do, we accept them as true principles. This idea corresponds with the following
point William James makes, which states, Truth is always incomplete, inconclusive,
open for change. Our own personal truth can change because our perspective can
change. We must be open- minded. For me this way of thinking is far too
complicated. I believe truth is truth is truth. Truth is subjective, but it is most
definitely objective. For example, we know smoking is harmful to our bodies. Has
not research been done and studies performed yielding hard factual evidence of this
TRUTH? The proof or evidence is what makes this true. Therefore someone cannot
just decide for themself that smoking is good for their body and is actually a healthy
practice. Sure, they can say it, they can even talk themselves into believing it, but
that does not make it true. So truth, in that sense, is objective. Smoking is damaging
to our bodies regardless of perspective or opinion or belief. Could all knowledge be
truth? And if it is not really true, is it not really knowledge? James also taught the
“instrumentality of truth”, that truth is more a way than the final result, it is the
“tool” to get the result. We don’t need the truth for truth’s sake; we need truth to get
the result. Truth, James goes on, is the “success story”. His philosophy is very much
in line with the American way of life. For example, Americans do not love losers
while in Russia it is a completely different story. In Russia, Russians love losers and
are very suspicious about winners. American culture is different. Americans are
brutal and tough. This point leads easily into the next, which illustrates that truth is
a “business plan”. We also love business plans in America. It has been said, “the
business of America is business.” We want to know what we need to do to get from
step one to step two and so forth until we reach the final result.
And finally, truth is “know-how”. Truth is not a description. Truth is how can I get
what I want. It’s not enough to say, “know”, it’s only enough to say, “know- how”.
The next aspect from James’ philosophy I want to address is the answer to the
question, “What is Morality?” James teaches The Super Moral Evil to be “boredom”.
Boredom could be expressed as, “when our life, more and more, becomes trivial and
meaningless”. The results of boredom are depression, violence and self-destruction.
The moral remedy for this great evil is activism, participation, involvement,
volunteering, charity, and openness to the other. In other words the cure for this
widespread social disease is “Pragmatic Altruism” or selflessly increasing the level
of happiness in one’s community. Someone once said, “Idleness is the devils
workshop.” Boredom stems from idleness. Idleness is the result of a lack of
perspective, or perhaps an absence of purpose in life and a disregard of the value of
time. We can be anchored with good perspective and correct thinking and a sense of
purpose and still choose to be idle.
In that case the reason we choose to be idle is because we lack a sense of
responsibility or discipline. Many people are raised in good families and taught
sound principles involving human decency but do not necessarily live according to
what they have been taught. I would agree with William James’ philosophy that the
super moral evil is boredom. Its opposite is to live a more fulfilling life, which in the
end creates a happier, more fulfilled person and I believe that we are here to
experience joy and happiness. The responsibilities of caring for and tending to
communities and neighborhoods (and the country as a whole) are as important as
tending to and caring for families as adults. For me it is true that such civic
involvement, especially among today’s youth, is extremely important. I agree,
however, that truth is contemplation and action and so in harmony with the
philosophy of William James, I find myself asking questions and striving to
understand why it is people either do or do not participate in voting, volunteering,
and taking part in community. Another question could be, “are Americans
charitable?” In my opinion these questions are imperative to ask ourselves and then
to create a plan in order to instill activism, participation, involvement, volunteering
and charity into our hearts and minds and of those around us. I think the reason
William James suggests such principles as love and service is because these are true
principles. It is true that they are the antidote for boredom, idleness, and an
unfulfilled, unhappy life. Apart from truth being subjective, I believe the philosophy
of William James is very consistent and thorough through out.
I can see how his definitions of truth and morality are intertwined and inseparable.
Obviously William James believes boredom to be a great evil and by nature,
something we should do all we can to counteract by implementing what he sees as
its remedies or cures. If he believed boredom were good or consistent with the
purpose or meaning of life or in other words, if he didn’t think it was bad or an ill to
society, he would not have come up with or recognized a remedy. Boredom would
not need a remedy if it were something we were to embrace. However, it is
something to avoid and therefore, it should be fought against as if it were a cancer.
For that is essentially what it is as it slowly but surely kills the hope, love, and
charity woven into the fiber of our souls. In my opinion, this is so because of the
existence of an objective, absolute truth; a truth that cries, “life has a purpose, this is
the purpose of life, and these are true principles that will help us realize our
purpose.” Truth is, like we have already distinguished, the will to believe, it is a
success story and a business plan. Its results are joy, satisfaction, progress, success,
and self-actualization. Similarly, the remedy of the super evil is hope, activism,
participation, involvement, volunteering, charity, and openness to the other. All of
these things imply hard work and determination in hope for something better,
something greater, or some sense of progression or satisfaction. On the other hand,
the results of boredom are depression, violence, and self-destruction. Likewise,
failure to recognize and apply truth in our life causes sadness, disappointment,
digression, and disaster. From this perspective, truth is morality, and morality is
truth. Individual truths, worthy goals, a detailed plan, action, and efficiency all lead
to a sense of personal progression, knowledge, satisfaction and fulfillment in life. In
this paper I have not addressed what boredom might be the result of.
However, I think the noteworthy argument to make is that we must never allow
complacency to creep into our lives. If we feel as though we have nothing to work
toward, hope for, or contribute to society, the super evil, “boredom”, will inevitably
ignite the flame of physical, mental, and spiritual self-destruction, which if not
contained will eventually destroy us. For that precise purpose James has offered
sound moral truths in order to combat its damning or eroding influence. One of my
favorite things about reading, studying, and pondering on the philosophy of William
James was being able to make the connection between certain aspects of “what is
truth” and “what is morality”. Although certainly my interpretation of his beliefs and
their intended application may be very subjective and personal, the underlying
principles could have great impact on all, in one way or another.
E-portfolio link
http://xavy28.weebly.com/index.html
Works Cited
James, William. The Will to Believe. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1897.
James, William. Pragmatism's Conception of Truth. Lecture 6 in Pragmatism: A New
Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. New York: Longman, Green and Co., 1907.
Settersten, Richard, Ph.D., and Barbara E. Ray. Not Quite Adults. New York: Bantam
Books, 2010.
Soccio, Douglas J. Archetypes of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy. Boston, MA:
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013
Izrailevsky, Alexander, Ph.D., Notes on The American Pragmatist: William James
(1842-1910). 2013