168 A CATECHISM CONCERNING TRUTH 



the human mind. But I say that one of those 

 necessities precisely is a belief in objective truth. 

 Pragmatism is a matter of human needs and one 

 of the first of human needs is to be something more 

 than a pragmatist.&quot; You would say, if I under 

 stand you aright, that to fall back upon a sup 

 posed necessity of the &quot; human mind &quot; to believe 

 in certain absolute truths, is to evade a proper 

 demand for testing the human mind and all its 

 works. 



Teacher. My son, I am glad to leave the last 

 word with you. This enfant terrible of intellectu- 

 alism has revealed that the chief objection of abso 

 lutists to the pragmatic doctrine of the personal 

 (or &quot;subjective&quot;) factor in belief is that the 

 pragmatist has spilled the personal milk in the 

 absolutist s cocoanut. 



