Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a late 19th Century and early
20th Century school of philosophy which considers practical consequences
or real effects to be vital components of both meaning and truth.
At its simplest, something is true only insofar as it works.
However, Pragmatism is not a single philosophy, and is more a style
or way of doing philosophy.
In
general terms, Pragmatism asserts that any theory that proves itself more
successful in predicting and controlling our world than its
rivals can be considered to be nearer the truth. It argues that the meaning
of any concept can be equated with the conceivable operational or practical consequences
of whatever the concept portrays. Like Positivism, it asserts that the scientific
method is generally best suited to theoretical inquiry, although
Pragmatism also accepts that the settlement of doubt can also be achieved by tenacity
and persistence, the authority of a source of ready-made beliefs or other
methods. For more details, see the section on the doctrine of Pragmatism.
The
school's founder, the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, first
stated the Pragmatic Maxim in the late 19th Century (and re-stated it in
many different ways over the years) as a maxim of logic and as a reaction
to metaphysical theories. The Pragmatic Maxim is actually a family of
principles, not all equivalent (at least on the surface), and there are
numerous subtle variations with implications which reach into
almost every corner of philosophical thought.
The
school of Pragmatism reached its peak in the early 20th Century
philosophies of William James and John Dewey. The term
"pragmatism" was first used in print by James, who credited Peirce
with coining the term during the early 1870s.
After
the first wave of Pragmatism, the movement split and gave rise to
three main sub-schools, in addition to other more independent,
non-aligned thinkers:
- Neo-Classical Pragmatism inherits most of the tenets of the classical Pragmatists, and its adherents include Sidney Hook (1902 - 1989) and Susan Haack (1945 - ).
- Neo-Pragmatism (sometimes called Linguistic Pragmatism) is a type of Pragmatism, although it differs in its philosophical methodology or conceptual formation from classical Pragmatism, and its adherents include C. I. Lewis (1883 - 1964), Richard Rorty (1931 - 2007), W. V. O. Quine, Donald Davidson (1917 - 2003)and Hilary Putnam (1926 - ).
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