Dewey judged past-event beliefs by their future effects

Evidence

Whether a belief is good or bad depends upon whether the activities which it inspires in the organism entertaining the belief have consequences which are satisfactory or unsatisfactory to it. Thus a belief about some event in the past is to be classified as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, not according to whether the event really took place, but according to the future effects of the belief. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2934

Categorization

• XREF: Directly opposes correspondence theories of truth and Russell’s own causal approach. — connects to: Dewey rejected the traditional static and eternal conception of truth — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2922; Truth about the past limits human power, future-dependent truth expands it — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2937; Dewey viewed inquiry as organism-environment mutual adjustment — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2928 (+2 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2934

Broader Connections

• Deliberate action requires partial but not total foresight of consequences #expands (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 785
• Dewey viewed inquiry as organism-environment mutual adjustment #expands (0.75) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2928
• Pragmatism relates to ancient skepticism via valuing opinions by utility #exemplifies (0.65) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 399