Peirce’s pragmatism was readily picked up by his friend and colleague from Harvard, William James. William James was a psychologist and philosopher who studied the impact of thinking and emotion on our behavior. He was interested in how we interact with each other and how we make sense of the world around us. He believed that thinking about the world made it easier to understand and that the mind could change the nature of reality itself. His approach to philosophy was pragmatic: he considered whether something worked or not. If a theory did not work then it was useless. This means that we shouldn’t accept theories just because they sound right or because they seem logical. We should test them against the real world. He also believed that there were different types of knowledge, including scientific knowledge and moral knowledge. Scientific knowledge has to be tested and verified through experiments. Moral knowledge is derived from experience and observation and needs to be applied to situations.
Introduction
How do we really define Philosophy? The Greek word φιλοσοφία – Philosophia. Or as the term has been coined by modern Western language – Philosophy. The literal meaning of this word is relatively static. Derived from its Greek origin it comprises two separate words...
