“Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events.”

— William James

Lecture VI, Pragmatism's Conception of Truth
1900s, Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (1907)
Context: Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events. Its verity is in fact an event, a process: the process namely of its verifying itself, its veri-fication. Its validity is the process of its valid-ation.

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William James246

American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist 1842–1910

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