The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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The
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What
PRAGMATISM AND HUMANISM
conceivably practical kind the object may involve
what sensations we are to expect from it and what
reactions we must prepare. Our conception of these
results, then, is for us the whole of our conception of the
object, so far as that conception has positive significance
at 1 all." Still further, as Mr. Schiller maintains, 2
truth of a thing
is to be found in its validity
which, however, must be connected rather than contrasted
with its origin.
a thing really is
appears from
what it does, and so we must study its whole career.
We study its past to forecast its future, and to find out
what it is really driving at. Any complete explana
tion, therefore, is by final causes, and implies a know
ledge of ends and aims which we can often only
imperfectly detect." Hence, Mr. Schiller holds that all
Axioms were originally Postulates :
you begin by assum
ing, guessing, supposing, and then act on your
assumption, guess, or supposition ;
and if
your action
succeeds, the assumption is justified, and if it
goes on
succeeding time after time, then the postulate becomes
an axiom you regard it as universal and as necessary.
The appeal, then, is to experience and consequences
:
truth,
in order to be
true, must have practical results,
it must work yea more, in the wider humanism, it
consists in consequences, more especially if these are
good. Our beliefs are determined by practical interest.
We believe what serves our purpose, or what points to
an end which we desire, or what satisfies our needs :
we disbelieve what serves no purpose, or what has
proved to be misleading or inadequate to meet our
wants. So, too, of morality
: human needs and their
satisfaction determine between right and wrong, and
give us the ethical notions.
Thus, then, in pragmatism (not least X
in its developed
1
See Mind, as already referred to.
2
See his chapter in Mr. Start s Personal Idealism, p. 125.
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