II 



USELESS KNOWLEDGE 1 



A DISCOURSE CONCERNING PRAGMATISM 



ARGUMENT 



The idealistic art of passing into other worlds. A visit to Plato in a world 

 of superior reality. The difficulty of proving the reality of such 

 experiences to others unless they lead to useful knowledge. Is the true 

 always useful? Aristotle denies the connexion between theoretic truth 

 and practical use, and prefers the former as higher and diviner. The 

 Pragmatist rejection of this dogma of the superior dignity of speculation. 

 Four possibilities as to the relation of Knowledge and Action, (i) Plato s 

 view : Knowledge the presupposition of Action, to which it naturally 

 leads the True the source of the Good ; (2) Aristotle s : Pure Know 

 ledge unrelated to Action, the highest Truth to the Good for man ; (3) 

 Kant s : the same relation, but Action ultimately superior to Knowledge ; 

 (4) Pragmatism the converse of Plato s, i.e. Action primary, Knowledge 

 secondary, the Good the source of the True. 



Critiqtie of Aristotelianisni. (i) Truth not superhuman, but as 

 human as Good. True means true for us as practical beings. 

 The recognition of objective truth a gradual achievement and = the 

 construction of a common world in which we can act together. (2) Per 

 ceived reality relative to our senses. (3) The eternal truths postulates. 

 (4) Theoretical principles, like practical, get their meaning from their 

 use, and are called true if they prove useful. Hence necessary 

 truth on\y=needful. Implications of the dicta the true is useful and the 

 useless is false. No really useless knowledge, for the apparently useful 

 is not knowledge. Examples Knowledge about the Absolute and about 

 an other world unconnected with this. 



IT will readily be understood that once the idealistic art 

 of waking oneself up out of our world of appearances and 

 thereby passing into one of higher reality 2 is fully mastered, 

 the temptation to exercise it becomes practically irresistible. 

 Nevertheless, it was not until nearly two years (as men 



1 From Mind, N.S. No. 42 (April 1902). with some additions. 

 2 . Cp. pp. 113 note, 283-5. 



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