'The true,' to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving. Expedient in almost any fashion; and expedient in the long run and on the whole of course; for what meets expediently all the experience in sight won't necessarily meet all farther experiences equally satisfactorily. Experience, as we know, has ways of boiling over, …
showed first 75 words of 2300 total

showed last 75 words of 2300 total
…claimed that a belief's truth not only depended in its agreement with reality, but also over the nature of this agreement. James's account of truth allows subjective factors to contribute to the truth of our beliefs. He characterizes the relationship between ideas and reality as "agreement." He always argued that "truth becomes true, is made true by events." James insisted on making experience the criterion for determining the value or the truth of a belief.