The Meaning of Truth is a collection of essays by William James, a sequel to Pragmatism in which he elaborates his pragmatic account of truth. He argues that true ideas are those we can verify, validate and act upon, and examines what difference truth makes in experience. It rewards listeners interested in philosophy and clear, conversational argument.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
THE MEANING OF TRUTH A SEQUEL TO 'PRAGMATISM' By William James PREFACE THE pivotal part of my book named Pragmatism is its account of the relation called 'truth' which may obtain between an idea (opinion, belief, statement, or what not) and its object. 'Truth,' I there say, 'is a property of certain of our ideas. It means their agreement, as falsity means their disagreement, with reality. Pragmatists and intellectualists both accept this definition as a matter of course. 'Where our ideas [do] not copy definitely their object, what does agreement with that object mean? ... Pragmatism asks its usual question. "Grant an idea or belief to be true," it says, "what concrete difference will its being
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