Pragmatism And the Problem of the Idea

held that the form of the idea was mental, i.e. that the mind fashioned or elaborated the form, but that the concrete element in the content came through the senses from the world without. This theory was summed up in the classic Scholastic phrase that the idea was a mental product with a basis in external reality. Thus on the one hand free play with proper place and proportion were allowed all the processes of mind which in their last analysis centre around the idea, and on the other hand Idealism was guarded against by showing that the mind was in direct contact with external reality. This teaching obtained in the Scholastic schools and is viewed as the Scholastic teaching on the nature of the idea. In our own time Psychology holds the vital position in philosophic discussion. This came about naturally in the trend of modern thought. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century the Science- Philosophy arose enunciating the philosophic theory of evolution based on data of the Physical Sciences. This theory was confidently claimed to be the solution and explanation of all things. To realize these roseate hopes its advocates contended that chapter{Section 4man also was included in the great evolutive process. Hence discussion about man's place in nature became the crucial problem. Had man a spiritual nature with an immortal destiny, or was he the mere product of physical forces evolving more and more perfectly through interminable ages from the lowest forms of life...