4 Quotes by William James about theory


  • Author William James
  • Quote

    But it is the bane of psychology to suppose that where results are similar, processes must be the same. Psychologists are too apt to reason as geometers would, if the latter were to say that the diameter of a circle is the same thing as its semi-circumference, because, forsooth, they terminate in the same two points.

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  • Author William James
  • Quote

    Theories thus become instruments, not answers to enigmas, in which we can rest.We don’t lie back upon them, we move forward, and, on occasion, make natureagain over by their aid. Pragmatism unstiffens all our theories, limbers them upand sets each one at work.

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