Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking

James appropriates this commercial term to refer to the practical results or consequences of a philosophical doctrine—its usefulness to life. For example, in discussing the traditional philosophical distinction between substance and attribute (or accident), James says that only the attributes of things have cash-value for us in practical life, while substance remains more or less an abstraction.

James uses this term to refer to mankind’s ordinary perceptions of reality, which are separate from the discoveries of philosophy and science, and which continue to guide most of us in everyday life. Philosophy and science help us to look beyond our commonsense perceptions and insights, using their own methodology to see deeper into reality.

This is James’s term for the philosophy of George Berkeley, David Hume, Emanuel Kant, and later thinkers, which questioned commonly held metaphysical assumptions about the nature of reality, knowledge, etc. James sees both critical philosophy and modern science as involved in expanding our knowledge beyond commonsense intuitions toward a wider understanding of reality.