The point I now urge you to observe particularly is the part played
by the older truths. Failure to take account of it is the source of
much of the unjust criticism leveled against pragmatism. Their
influence is absolutely controlling. Loyalty to them is the first
principle--in most cases it is the only principle; for by far the
most usual way of handling phenomena so novel that they would make
for a serious rearrangement of our preconceptions is to ignore them
altogether, or to abuse those who bear witness for them.
You doubtless wish examples of this process of truth's growth, and
the only trouble is their superabundance. The simplest case of new
truth is of course the mere numerical addition of new kinds of
facts, or of new single facts of old kinds, to our experience--an
addition that involves no alteration in the old beliefs. Day follows
day, and its contents are simply added. The new contents themselves
are not true, they simply COME and ARE. Truth is what we say about
them, and when we say that they have come, truth is satisfied by the
plain additive formula.
But often the day's contents oblige a rearrangement. If I should now
utter piercing shrieks and act like a maniac on this platform, it
would make many of you revise your ideas as to the probable worth of
my philosophy.
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