Finally we come to America's unique contribution to this history. It took a while, but here it is: American pragmatism. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) believed that differences in meaning are only significant if they lead to differences of practice. Truth is "opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed to by all who investigate."

William James (1842-1910) took Peirce's ideas a step further. Building on the empiricism of John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), he argued that truth is that which works in experience. What we experience is reality (opposed to Kant). Applied to religion, faith is valid only if it works for the individual in experience. James coined "pragmatism" for this philosophy during an 1898 lecture at Harvard.

John Dewey (1859-1921) took things still farther: morality is that which works so that people function well together. The result: American pragmatism, the belief that truth is whatever works. Whether that truth is intellectual, linguistic, religious, or moral in nature, the test of practical experience is the only one we need. And Americans are still cheering today.