PRAGMATISM AND THE MEANING OF TRUTH

PRAGMATISM, originally a series of lectures, is an approachable but far from simple philosophical text, and THE MEANING OF TRUTH, a collection of essays, is more challenging yet. Adam Sims's voice isn't immediately impressive but proves to be a highly serviceable tool, flexible and expressive. He uses it to elucidate James's meaning and also bring out his tone, which in Sims's performance is argumentative, but urbane and commonsensical. Rather than lecturing, he delivers the texts as conversation. Performance is interpretation, and Sims's narration may make James's meaning clearer to the listener than it would be to a reader--but listeners unfamiliar with the books may find them stiff going. Despite the difficulty of the material, Sims's performance is remarkably engaging; it's hard to imagine better. W.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2023]