Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton to Duke to denounce the acts of the lacrosse players; and three, according to the pragmatic theory of truth, with is certainly in play in America, something reported is true if it is useful to believe it is true.
Meanwhile, all the charges against the lacrosse players have been dropped (for lack of evidence), and the Attorney General of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, stated (www.cnn.law.com) that "...the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred..." Cooper went on to say that "No DNA confirms the accuser's story" and "no other witness confirms" her story; in fact, "other evidence contradicts her story." He criticized the district attorney who prosecuted the case, Michael Nifong, who was running for reelection at the time the charges were brought against the players; "...caution would have served justice better than bravado," he asserted. But part of the reason that caution was thrown to the wind was the media coverage was so intense and had such powerful momentum that people began believing that something bad had happened; after all, black people have suffered great injustices at the hands of Caucasians, and this seemed to fit neatly into that history.
TRANSITION:...
612), the author discusses the philosophical theories of two proponents of the pragmatic theory of truth, Richard Rorty and
William James. Boffetti points out that, according to Rorty, "James said a lot of...conflicting things about truth - such as that it consists in some kind of agreement between ideas and reality" (Boffetti, 612). But what Rorty did approve of in the context of William James was "James first theory of truth," which is "truth is what works." James so-called second theory of truth, according to Boffetti's account of Rorty, is that "...ideas (which are themselves but parts of our experience) become true just insofar as they help us get into satisfactory relation with other parts of our experience" (Boffetti 612).
ARGUMENT #2: During the 2004 Presidential Campaign the Bush campaign committed put an ad on the air that made it sound like Democratic candidate John Kerry was trying to help the terrorists. The ad showed a dark forest and a pack of wolves, looking very hungry and seeming to be on the attack. The announcer's voice, a soft female voice, said: "In an increasingly dangerous world...Even after the first
terrorist attack on America...John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence operations. By 6 billion dollars...cuts so deep they would have weakened America's defenses.
Meanwhile, the names most associated with
pragmatism are philosophers William James, Richard Rorty, Charles Sanders Pierce, and
John Dewey. The names most closely associated with recent presidential elections are Al Gore, George W. Bush, John Kerry and Karl Rove. But what
