William James Part II—with Eileen Murphy, MD

Tonight, we continue with William James. Our focus is on Truth. Since the time of Aristotle, Truth has worn many outfits—the Truth of Mystics, the Truth of the Inquisition and of Witch-hunters. There are philosophical truths of Correspondence and of Coherence. With William James, comes the Pragmatic Truth. James also advances another Truth—a spiritual one. He chooses to believe in a Creator God who is kindly disposed towards us human beings. Pragmatism was challenged by philosophers Nietzsche and Foucault who say that Truth is dressed in Power. The trendy styles these days are “truthiness” and “post-truth.” Where might various ideas of Truth lead us? Jung speaks differently of Truth—is it mystical?

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