威廉·詹姆斯论真理的性质与价值

William James on the Nature and Value of Truth

威廉·詹姆斯对真理有以下几种主张:(i)真理与独立于认知者的实在相符合,(ii)真理是由人类制造的,(iii)真理可以被证实,以及(iv)真理必然是好东西.这些主张会引起一些困惑,比如(i)和(ii)看上去是相互矛盾的,而(ii)、(iii)和(iv)中的每一条都蕴含着反直觉的内容.相比起普特南和哈克等人对詹姆斯之真理现的诠释,盖尔的诠释是目前最全面的,但对这些困惑的回答仍有欠缺.为更好地解决这些困惑,本文提出一种与盖尔有所不同的诠释.

William James’pragmatic theory of truth has been discussed by many philosophers such as Bertrand Russell,G.E.Moore,Susan Haack,and Hilary Putnam.In this paper,I focus on a recent interpretation of James’theory of truth offered by Richard Gale.I argue that Gale’s interpretation of James’theory of truth is inadequate in dealing with some puzzles.And I propose a better interpretation and show how it can solve these puzzles.