An Evaluation of William James’ Pragmatic Concept of Truth

This article focuses on an evaluation of William James’ pragmatic concept of truth. Pragmatism is one of the contemporary schools of thought or movements in philosophy. It emphasizes the practical aspects of ideas or theories. Among the basic issues in pragmatism is the issue of truth. The basic questions are: What is pragmatism? How does William James conceive truth in his pragmatic theory? Is truth objective or relative? Is truth static or ever-changing? Is there any relationship between truth and practical consequences of things? Is truth intrinsic or extrinsic to an idea? These and other related issues are the major focus of this article. William James, in his pragmatism, approaches truth from the perspective of its practical consequence, and argues that truth ‘happens’ to an idea. The researcher argues that though William James’ pragmatic concept of truth is associated with some problems, he has made outstanding contributions to scholarship by bringing out the practical implications of truth, and extricating it from rationalistic tendency as well as dogmatism.