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William James offers us a philosophy called Pragmatism which seems designed to steer between previous philosophical positions on what constitutes the truth. For James, a thing is true insofar as it is useful. James would refer, in what seems to be a self-consciously American way of speaking (not unlike Mark Twain), to the "cash value" of an idea -- or as James expounds it "Pragmatism asks its usual question, 'Grant an idea or belief to be true...what concrete difference will its being true make in any one's actual life?"
This is where the applicability of William James' philosophy becomes particularly apparent -- not only is Pragmatism concerned with uses, but it is also concerned with how to maintain a kind of "tough-minded" (in James' words) philosophical stance within "pluralism" or "the pluralistic universe" as James called it. This entails negotiating between multiple truth claims and selecting them on the basis of utility. But it also leads to some fascinating stances which I personally...
Now from the standpoint of science -- or traditional philosophy -- there is no "truth" to astrology. Yet William James would inform me that -- if somehow reading my horoscope allows me to get a handle on my day, if it in some way provides me with directionality or performs some other useful function in my daily life, then I need not worry about the scientific status of astrological prognostication.
Now this is by no means an unproblematic concept on James's part. Soccio notes the similarity of James' view to "self-fulfilling prophecy," the way in which the act of belief can make something happen. Obviously there is no empirical scientific way to prove that there…
In 1682, the Quakers purchased East New Jersey. Penn then sought to extend the Quaker region. The King granted Penn a land charter, the area that is currently known as Pennsylvania, and that charter made Penn a sovereign ruler and the world's largest private landowner. Penn named the region Sylvania, but Charles II changed that to Pennsylvania, to honor Penn's father. (See Jacobson, pp. 43-55). Pennsylvania was a very interesting
WILLIAM BLAKE'S MILTON-TRANSFORMATION The great Romantic poet, William Blake, is known for his revolutionary ideas and his fiery attacks on everything he opposed. His work is usually not very complex in nature but since it is connected with the infinite and discusses some imaginary elements, one needs to read his poems more than once to make sense of them. This is exactly what is required when reading Blake's Milton, a poem
Introduction Historically, Biblical theology and philosophy had so many things in common and thus complemented each other. Philosophers and theologians even considered themselves mortal enemies in certain cases. Most Christianity doctrines have critical implications or pre-suppositions on philosophy. The discussion begins with the relationship between philosophy and Christianity. It then defined Biblical Theology based on three Christian doctrines that influence philosophy. They include the trinity, the atonement and the incarnation. The
There are several ways that BP could have chosen to respond, all of which were "open" to them (i.e. they had free will), yet those chose to take paths that were less moral. Kant's universal law would have them put their responsibility to humanity as the motivator, however, their motives have not proven to be driven by doing what is genuinely good for humanity. Blackburn (2009) states that it is
nature of Leonard Williams Levy's Origins of the Bill of Rights is not as simple as it seems, and this is in fact a measure of the strength of the book. We are so accustomed to dividing the world into clear categories - popular fiction on one side, serious scholarship on another, pulp fiction over there in the corner - that we are given pause when we come across
" (Ibid) the term cosmology is derived from the Greek word 'kosmos' meaning order and refers to the world and the universe. (Ibid, paraphrased) the cosmologic philosopher is stated to be on who "contemplates the nature of this order and is concerned with the relationships between the plants, the stars and the earth. The laws of the universe are important topics to cosmologic philosophers. They consider the laws of thermodynamics,