Good question! How we answer it cuts right to the heart of what pragmatism means, in ways that will, er, "have an effect" on the interpretation of The Varieties of Religious Experience. Does anyone want to take a crack at it?
Personally I find the first chapter of the Varieties the driest, so maybe we could fill out this week's discussion with some general stuff about James and pragmatism.
Can you explain/expound on this quote from Pierce:"...consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object."...from "How to Make Our Ideas Clear" ......... : )
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