THE INTELLECTUALIST CRITERION 139 



process of verification is experimental, consisting 

 in setting on foot various activities that express 

 the intent of the idea and confirm or refute it ac 

 cording to the changes effected. This seems to 

 mean that truth is simply the tested or verified 

 belief as such. But then a curious reservation is 

 introduced; the experimental process finds, it is 

 said, that an idea is true, while the error of the 

 pragmatist is to take the process by which truth 

 is found as one by which it is made. The claim 

 of &quot; making truth &quot; is treated as blasphemy 

 against the very notion of truth : such are the con 

 sequences of venturing to translate the Latin 

 &quot; verification &quot; into the English &quot; making true.&quot; 

 If we face the bogie thus called up, it will be 

 found that the horror is largely sentimental. Sup 

 pose we stick to the notion that truth is a char 

 acter which belongs to a meaning so far as tested 

 through action that carries it to successful comple 

 tion. In this case, to make an idea true is to 

 modify and transform it until it reaches this suc 

 cessful outcome : until it initiates a mode of response 

 which in its issue realizes its claim to be the method 

 of harmonizing the discrepancies of a given situa 

 tion. The meaning is remade by constantly acting 

 upon it, and by introducing into its content such 

 characters as are indicated by any resulting fail 

 ures to secure harmony. From this point of view, 

 verification and truth are two names for the same 



