If you mean
passing from the north of him to the east, then to the south, then
to the west, and then to the north of him again, obviously the man
does go round him, for he occupies these successive positions. But
if on the contrary you mean being first in front of him, then on the
right of him, then behind him, then on his left, and finally in
front again, it is quite as obvious that the man fails to go round
him, for by the compensating movements the squirrel makes, he keeps
his belly turned towards the man all the time, and his back turned
away. Make the distinction, and there is no occasion for any farther
dispute. You are both right and both wrong according as you conceive
the verb 'to go round' in one practical fashion or the other."
Altho one or two of the hotter disputants called my speech a
shuffling evasion, saying they wanted no quibbling or scholastic
hair-splitting, but meant just plain honest English 'round,' the
majority seemed to think that the distinction had assuaged the
dispute.
I tell this trivial anecdote because it is a peculiarly simple
example of what I wish now to speak of as THE PRAGMATIC METHOD. The
pragmatic method is primarily a method of settling metaphysical
disputes that otherwise might be interminable.
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