Part 5, Chapter 13 Pragmatisms, Section 4 Summary

James spent many years of his life trying to figure out why people made certain decisions, why they believed in some things and not other things. This is what he meant by pragmatism, the philosophy of decision-making.

He wanted to explain how people thought of God in relation to everything else they thought or believed. After years of reflection on the subject, James decided that some beliefs were instinctive and were not created just by experiences or the outside world. People have beliefs because the object has been shown to hold some value and with experiences regarding this object, people begin to believe.

Part 5, Chapter 13 Pragmatisms, Section 4 Analysis

The author now explains what exactly pragmatism is and how James used it to integrate science and religion. This is just the beginning of understanding the decision-making process in...