WHAT PRAGMATISM IS 573 



hostile critics who have emphasized these points to the exclusion of 

 any real merits which the movement may possess. 



We all remember what Emerson said long ago about ideas an- 

 nouncing truth being in the air, seeking to gain entrance to different 

 minds in different parts of the world at the same time, and " the most 

 impressionable brain will announce it first, but all will announce it 

 a few minutes later." But it is not to be expected that all minds will 

 be impressed in the same way or to a like degree, or that all would 

 have equal power of utterance. So we are further told by Professor 

 James : 



A number of tendencies that have always existed in philosophy have all 

 at once become conscious of themselves collectively, and of their combined 

 mission; and this has occurred in so many countries, and from so many dif- 

 ferent points of view, that much unconeerted statement has resulted. 



Before the movement was fairly launched, or an opportunity had 

 been afforded its leaders of getting together and comparing notes as 

 to their common message and unifying it, if possible, the critics had 

 attacked it on all sides and from every quarter. This caused a rush 

 of both friends and foes, professionals and tenderfeet, to this newly 

 discovered philosophical Klondike, which has been productive of much 

 confusion and misunderstanding. Eeconciling these conflicting state- 

 ments is simply out of the question, and I shall not attempt the 

 impossible. 



Disclaiming right at the outset all intention of speaking as one 

 clothed with authority, fully realizing that what I may say is binding 

 upon no one, my mission is simply to set forth what pragmatism is, 

 as I understand it. Even this I venture upon with diffidence. As 

 an excuse for my seeming rashness, if such be needed, I would repeat 

 what the protagonist of pragmatism himself has said : 



Whoever will contribute any touch of sharpness will help us to make 

 sure of what's what and who is who. Any one can contribute such a definition, 

 and, without it, no one knows exactly where he stands. 



My purpose, however, is not to add another to the many existing 

 definitions, but rather to weigh and compare some of those already 

 current. In other words, I merely propose to examine the history of 

 the movement with the intention of ascertaining, if possible, what 

 pragmatism is, and I shall throw this layman's contribution into 

 the bubbling vat of publicity where, jostled by rivals and torn by critics, it 

 will eventually either disappear from notice, or else, if better luck befall it, 

 quietly subside to the profundities, and serve as possible ferment of new 

 growths or a nucleus of new crystallizations. 



It is easy enough to tell of the origin of the word and that it is 

 " derived from the same Greek word Trpdyfut., meaning action, from 

 which our words ' practise ' and ' practical ' come." Now this not 

 only does not tell us much, but has actually proved misleading and is 



