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social justification of belief, and thus have no need to view it as accuracy
of representation (p.170).
CSP:
The result [as I said] is, of course, a rapid deterioration of intellec–
tual vigor. This is just what is taking place among us before our eyes....
Man loses his conceptions of truth and of reason
(1
.S8, cont. and I.S9).
RR: I
do not have much use for notions like ... "objective truth"
(TWO,
p.141). [The] pragmatist view [is] of rationality as civility, ... [as] respect
for the opinions of those around one, ... of "true" as a word which applies
to those beliefs upon which we are able to agree ... (SS, pp.44, 40, 4S).
CSP:
[As I was saying,] man loses his conceptions of truth and of reason.
If he sees one man assert what another denies, he will, if he is concerned,
choose his side and set to work by all means in his power to silence his
adversaries. The truth for him is that for which he fights (1.59, cont.).
RR:
Truth [is] entirely a matter of solidarity
(ORT,
p.32). There is noth–
ing to be said about either truth or rationality apart from descriptions of
the familiar procedures of justification which a given society -
ollrs
-
uses
... (SS, p.42) .
CSP:
You certainly opine that there is such a thing as Truth. Otherwise,
reasoning and thought would be without a purpose. What do you mean by
there being such a thing as Truth? You mean that something is SO ...
whether you, or
I,
or anybody thinks it is so or not.... The essence of the
opinion is that there is
something
that is SO, no matter if there be an over–
whelming vote against it (2.13S) . Every man is fully satisfied that there is
such a thing as truth, or he would not ask any question.
That
truth consists
in a conformity to something
independent
oj
his thinking
it
to be
50,
or of any
man's opinion on that subject (S.211).
Truth [is] overwhelmingly forced upon the mind in experience as the
effect of an independent reality (S.S64). The essence of truth lies in its
resistance to being ignored (2.139).
RR:
Some philosophers ... insist that natural science discovers truth
rather than makes it..... Other philosophers [like myseln ... have con–
cluded that science is no more than the handmaiden of technology (CIS,
pp.3-4).
CSP:
There are certain mummified pedants who have never waked to the
truth that the act of knowing a real object alters it. They are curious spec–
imens of humani ty, and .. . I am one of them ... (S.SSS).
RR:
My rejection of traditional notions of rationality can be summed up
by saying that the only sense in which science is exemplary is that it is a
