A couple of quotes from William James, The Meaning of Truth
“The state of mind which shudders at the idea of a lot of experiences left to themselves, and that augurs protection from the sheer name of an absolute, as if, however inoperative, that might still stand for a sort of ghostly security, is like the mood of those good people who, whenever they hear of a social tendency that is damnable, begin to redden and to puff, and say ‘Parliament or Congress ought to make a law against it,’ as if an impotent decree would give relief.”
C. III, Humanism and Truth
and then
“Anti-Prag.:–It seems to mean more than the bare being of the facts. It is a sort of mental equivalent for them, their epistemological function, their value in noetic terms.
Prag.:–A sort of spiritual double or ghost of them, apparently! If so, may I ask you where this truth is found.
Anti-Prag.:–Where? where? There is no ‘where’–it simply obtains, absolutely obtains.
Prag.:–Not in any one’s mind?
Anti-Prag.:–No, for we agreed that no actual knower of the truth should be assumed.”
C. XV, A Dialogue