Reddit reviews Pragmatism: The Classic Writings

I recommend reading this: http://www.amazon.com/Pragmatism-Classic-Writings-H-S-Thayer/dp/0915145375

The Pragmatists offer really good ways to think about and justify metaphysical and epistemological beliefs. The whole "reality is an illusion" thing doesn't make sense when you think about the world pragmatically.

Whenever someone proposes some sort of metaphysical claim, simply try to conceive of the practical differences it would produce.
For example, if you were to think about the free will v. determinism debate pragmatically, you would want to ask yourself: if this is a deterministic world, what would a world where people have free will be like? and how would it differ from this world?

if you can't answer that question with something that isn't vacuous (e.g. "people would have free will in a world that isn't deterministic" [simply begs the question]), then the pragmatic presumption is that there is no meaningful difference between the two propositions. In other words, the distinction is literally meaningless and does not refer to a real metaphysical problem at all.

So, ask yourself: assuming this word is real, "how would this world differ if it were not real?" Assuming this world is not real, "how would this world differ if it were real?"

Exactly what I would recommend. The Thayer collection is were to go next.