Views on Truth: James and Roosevelt

The argument William James makes in “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings” is that the blindness in which we all are impaired regarding the feelings of creatures and people different from ourselves. That others are absorbed in their own secrets to take any interest in others. The “blindness’” James diagnosis is that how humans are indifferent to the people around them because they only prioritize themselves. James says that we are practical beings and that each is bound to feel important in their own duties and that is why we are so easy to judge others. James uses stories from other authors to explain his thinking. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, we see that it’s a reflection of happiness and where it comes from. This story highlights how many different people find joy in many different things. In Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Bridge” we see that even though there are differences in how we experience happiness, there are also some similarities. That similarity is death, and that is why James emphasizes that we only live once and we should enjoy it. Once we are aware of the danger of this blindness we should not have a blind eye to them. We fail to see how others see the world and we should always keep that in mind before judging others. Our view of the world is based on our values and everyone has different values and we have to respect that.

In Theodore Roosevelt's “Strenuous Life” he makes the argument that strenuous effort and overcoming hardship in life were ideals that should be embraced by the American people which would lead to a better nation. Roosevelt mostly thought about the nation rather than the people and how people can make the nation better overall. I think James would agree with Roosevelt to some extent on this argument. Roosevelt says that Americans should embrace this ideology and I think this James wouldn’t really agree. People should have their own ideas and values. We shouldn’t force anything upon them and that’s what James also says that everyone has a different view on the world and we have to open-minded to these views. This is also how James would also criticize Roosevelt’s ideology, where you shouldn’t try to change other people’s values and ideas. James necessarily didn’t want people to think for themselves but rather put themselves in other people’s shoes before judging them for having different values.

I think when it comes to who’s right I think the truth is somewhere in between. I think everyone should have the ability to express their values and ideals without it them being forced upon them. From James’s stance, everyone is ignorant to other people’s views and that is something that we need to change and this is where Roosevelt comes into play where he makes an argument that everyone must think alike for the nation to grow. If I had to pick, I would probably say Roosevelt was right. I think he is right because he’s thinking about the greater good and what’s best for the nation's future. He wants every American to work together to make America a greater nation and wants them to share the same, positive ideology. Both of them shared a similar ideology and wanted everyone to express themselves with Roosevelt including the nation into the picture as well.