This book was a very pleasant surprise. In college, I took a philosophy course that covered Pragmatism and I read books by William James, Charles Sanders Pierce, John Dewey, Josiah Royce etc. Kaag had a strong interest in the American philosophy of the late 19th century and did an excellent job of explaining it so that the general reader could understand it. In addition, he described the personalities and lives of the various philosophers – – many of them had more interesting lives outside of their academic pursuits. Kaag’s research takes place in the abandoned library of William Ernest Hocking. To be honest, reading about someone’s research in a library could be very tedious and boring. But I found it very interesting – –Kaag’s dedication and pursuit of information and material.
I highlight portions of books I own if I find them informative or interesting. Shown below are some of my notes below:
Pragmatism holds the truth is to be judged on the basis of its practical consequences, on its ability to negotiate an enrich human experience.
“Riches take wings; fame is a breath; love is a cheat; youth and health and pleasure vanish.” William James
Thoreau… had a hunch that frenetic busyness should not be the business of human life, that chatter makes one feel horribly alone, that well-paid jobs are different from “callings.” And that long relationships are not necessarily synonymous with meaningful ones. (Thoreau never married.)
Walking gives one many things, according to Thoreau, but one of its greatest gifts is time.
Socrates stands before his neighbors and says the unthinkable – – that there is something worse than death: living an ugly, wicked, boring life.
The lesson that William James gleaned from evolutionarily theory was of an existential variety – – human life was a natural process that began in the wailing of babies and ended in the pangs of death. In between was the seemingly futile struggle for survival.
In the 17th century the Frenchman (Pascal) argued that in the absence of proof, it is safer to believe in God ( since you lose relatively little if you were wrong) about his existence ( then to adopt atheism) and face eternal damnation on the Day of Judgment.
Esot-eric 