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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES.
that the big heart is still and the voice of the
NOW Master is silent-the Master who since the death of
the great Socrates himself is unsurpassed in the philosophic
inspiration he imparted to the youth of his age-friendship
and justice alike require that we shall give such nurture
and correction to his favorite child as loyalty to the past
and the needs of the futuremay dictate. Let us try to
examine briefly the significance of the doctrine of prag
matism and then redefine it in terms of our own insight.
I.
It is a long stretch historically from Protagoras to
William James. Yet critics have not been slow in point
ing out the similarity between the doctrine of the founder
of ancient humanism and the pragmatic movement of to
day. In this the critics have spoken truer than they knew.
For historical research has now made clear thatProtagoras
was no as was so from a mis
subjectivist, long supposed
interpretation of Plato, but a genuine empiricist. I agree
in the main with Gomperz's results in his treatment of
Protagoras.1 But I believe that these results, with proper
interpretation, can be derived from Plato, especially the
Theaetetus, which Gomperz discards. This incidentally
throws valuable light on theProtagorean authorship of the
anonymous work entitled "The Art." On the basis of this
new interpretation of Protagoras, we may indeed adopt the
first sentence of Protagoras's work on truth as a fair
1
Greek Thinkers,Vol. I, 438-475
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74 THE MONIST.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 75
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THE MONIST.
76
II.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. JJ
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THE MONIST.
78
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 79
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8o THE MONIST.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 81
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82 THE MONIST.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 83
III.
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84 THE MONIST.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 85
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86 THE MONIST.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 87
IV.
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88 THE MONIST.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 89
v.
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90 THE MONIST.
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FROM PROTAGORAS TO WILLIAM JAMES. 91
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