In Reply to: The quote is pure American pragmatism posted by Frihed89 on September 4, 2012 at 21:48:05:
The professor in question, M.G. Smith, was a Jamaican educated in England. Taught at University of London for a long time. Came to Yale in his pre-retirement years where I studied with him. He was a real smart guy,
He may have known about William James, but I would not count on it.
I later learned that this saying was a rephrasing of the "Thomas Theorem" which was a truism in early American sociology, but I like Professor Smith's version better. Thomas probably knew James, so your assumption could be dead on.
This quote is not shocking in any way to an anthropologist. In fact, it encapsulates huge swaths of the field in one sentence.
The pragmatic philosopher whose work is more relevant to the question of sound reproduction is C.S. Peirce. I spent years studying Peirciean semiotics and it is one of my main interests, but too hard to talk about for the tube DIY forum.
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Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent -- Wittgenstein
Free your mind and your ass will follow -- Parliament/Funkadelic
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Follow Ups
- RE: The quote is pure American pragmatism - Joe Roberts 23:11:02 09/04/12 (7)
- Here's the foundation of American Pragmatism due to CS Peirce - Frihed89 06:30:02 09/05/12 (1)
- RE: Here's the foundation of American Pragmatism due to CS Peirce - Joe Roberts 08:31:27 09/05/12 (0)
- RE: The quote is pure American pragmatism - Frihed89 00:51:43 09/05/12 (4)
- RE: The quote is pure American pragmatism - Joe Roberts 07:28:21 09/05/12 (3)
- This isn't an issue in CA - GSH 15:22:08 09/05/12 (2)
- RE: This isn't an issue in CA - Joe Roberts 17:04:13 09/05/12 (1)
- More? (nt) - GSH 17:29:35 09/05/12 (0)