Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that calls for ideas and theories to be tested in practice, by assessing whether acting upon the idea or theory produces desirable or undesirable results. According to pragmatists, all claims about truth, knowledge, morality, and politics must be tested in this way. Also, for them, everything people know and do depends on a historical context and is thus tentative rather than absolute.
Pragmatists believed that efforts to improve society must be geared toward problem solving and must be ongoing because they regard theories and institutions as tentative hypotheses and solutions.
Pragmatist sought a middle ground between traditional ideas about the nature of reality, which assumed that the world has a fixed, intelligible structure and that human beings can know absolute or objective truths about the world and about what constitutes moral behavior, and radical theories of nihilism and irrationalism, which denied those very assumptions and their certitude.
The three most important pragmatists are American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey.
Peirce’s objective was to infuse scientific thinking into philosophy and society. He was primarily concerned in scientific method and mathematics. He also developed pragmatism as a theory of meaning, the meaning of concepts used in science. For Peirce, the only rational way to increase knowledge was to form mental habits that would test ideas through observation, experimentation, or what he called inquiry
William James moved pragmatism in directions that Peirce strongly disliked. He generalized Peirce’s doctrines to encompass all concepts, beliefs, and actions. He also applied pragmatist ideas to truth as well as to meaning. James was primarily interested in showing how systems of morality, religion, and faith could be defended in a scientific civilization. James can more accurately be described as pluralist that relativist, which the critics often charged him.
John Dewey’s philosophy can be described as a version of philosophical naturalism, which regards human experience, intelligence, and communities as ever-evolving mechanisms. Dewey believed that human beings, using their experience and intelligence, can solve problems through inquiry.
The pragmatist tradition was revitalized in the 1980s by American philosopher Richard Rorty. Interest has renewed in the classic pragmatists as an alternative to Rorty’s interpretation of the tradition.
In an ever changing world, pragmatism has many benefits. It defends social experimentation as a means of improving society, accepts pluralism, and rejects dead dogmas. But a philosophy that offers no final answers or absolutes and that appears vague as a result of trying to harmonize opposites may also be unsatisfactory to some.
Pragmatists believed that efforts to improve society must be geared toward problem solving and must be ongoing because they regard theories and institutions as tentative hypotheses and solutions.
Pragmatist sought a middle ground between traditional ideas about the nature of reality, which assumed that the world has a fixed, intelligible structure and that human beings can know absolute or objective truths about the world and about what constitutes moral behavior, and radical theories of nihilism and irrationalism, which denied those very assumptions and their certitude.
The three most important pragmatists are American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey.
Peirce’s objective was to infuse scientific thinking into philosophy and society. He was primarily concerned in scientific method and mathematics. He also developed pragmatism as a theory of meaning, the meaning of concepts used in science. For Peirce, the only rational way to increase knowledge was to form mental habits that would test ideas through observation, experimentation, or what he called inquiry
William James moved pragmatism in directions that Peirce strongly disliked. He generalized Peirce’s doctrines to encompass all concepts, beliefs, and actions. He also applied pragmatist ideas to truth as well as to meaning. James was primarily interested in showing how systems of morality, religion, and faith could be defended in a scientific civilization. James can more accurately be described as pluralist that relativist, which the critics often charged him.
John Dewey’s philosophy can be described as a version of philosophical naturalism, which regards human experience, intelligence, and communities as ever-evolving mechanisms. Dewey believed that human beings, using their experience and intelligence, can solve problems through inquiry.
The pragmatist tradition was revitalized in the 1980s by American philosopher Richard Rorty. Interest has renewed in the classic pragmatists as an alternative to Rorty’s interpretation of the tradition.
In an ever changing world, pragmatism has many benefits. It defends social experimentation as a means of improving society, accepts pluralism, and rejects dead dogmas. But a philosophy that offers no final answers or absolutes and that appears vague as a result of trying to harmonize opposites may also be unsatisfactory to some.
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