裴爾士與詹姆士通常被並列為實用主義的共同創建者，但是兩人的實用 主義哲學實有相當的差異。本文從「個人探究」與「社群探究」這兩個層次 的區分入手來比較裴爾士早期與詹姆士的實用主義實在觀與真理觀、以及兩 人對於經驗探究方法的刻畫，並且指出裴爾士認為「真理」、「實在」與「經 驗探究方法」必須在社群探究層次上才能獲得恰當的闡釋，然而詹姆士堅持 從個人探究層次來闡釋這些觀念，這也可以解釋為何詹姆士的實用主義真理 觀曾經遭受到如此多的質疑與誤解。

Peirce and James have been regarded as co-founders of pragmatism, but their pragmatisms differ significantly. This paper examines and compares, on the basis of the distinction between the levels of community and individual inquiry, Peirce’s early and James’s pragmatic views of truth, reality, and method of inquiry; and points out that Peirce argues that these three notions could be satisfactorily explicated only on the level of community inquiry, whereas James insists on characterizing them on the level of individual inquiry—this can explain why James’s pragmatic view of truth has suffered severe objections and misunderstandings.