PRAGMATISM

INTRODUCTION Pragmatism, philosophical movement that has had a major impact on American culture from the late 19th century to the present. Pragmatism 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. Pragmatism has been critical of traditional Western philosophy, especially the notion that there are absolute truths and absolute values. Although pragmatism was popular for a time in France, England, and Italy, most observers believe that it encapsulates an American faith in know-how and practicality and an equally American distrust of abstract theories and ideologies.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PRAGMATISM Pragmatists regard all theories and institutions as tentative hypotheses and solutions. For this reason they believed that efforts to improve society, through such means as education or politics, must be geared toward problem solving and must be ongoing. Through their emphasis on connecting theory to practice, pragmatist thinkers attempted to transform all areas of philosophy, from metaphysics to ethics and political philosophy. Pragmatism is best understood in its historical and cultural context. It arose during the late 19th century, a period of rapid scientific advancement typified by the theories of British biologist Charles Darwin, whose theories suggested to many thinkers that humanity and society are in a perpetual state of progress. During this same period a decline in traditional religious beliefs and values accompanied the industrialization and material progress of the time. In consequence it became necessary to rethink fundamental ideas about values, religion, science, community, and individuality. The ideas of the pragmatists were considered revolutionary when they first appeared. To some critics, pragmatisms refusal to affirm any absolutes carried negative implications for society. Example: Pragmatists do not believe that a single absolute idea of goodness or justice exists, but rather that these concepts are changeable and depend on the context in which they are being discussed. The absence of these absolutes, critics feared, could result in a decline in moral standards. The pragmatists denial of absolutes, moreover, challenged the foundations of religion, government, and schools of thought. As a result, pragmatism influenced developments in psychology, sociology, education, semiotics (the study of signs and symbols), and scientific method, as well as philosophy, cultural criticism, and social reform movements. Various political groups have also drawn on the assumptions of pragmatism, from the progressive movements of the early 20th century to later experiments in social reform.

PRAGMATIST PHILOSOPHERS

CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE (1839-1914), American philosopher and physicist, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard University. Peirce is best known for his philosophical system, later called pragmatism. According to his pragmatic philosophy, no object or concept possesses inherent validity or importance. Its significance lies only in the practical effects resulting from its use or application. The truth of an idea or object, therefore, can be measured by empirical investigation of its usefulness. The concept was expanded by the American philosophers William James and John Dewey, and it profoundly influenced modern philosophical and sociological thought. Peirce's works include Photometric Researches (1878) and Studies in Logic (1883). His essays appear in Chance, Love, and Logic, published posthumously in 1923. The pragmatist knows that doubt is an art which has to be acquired with difficulty. Charles Sanders Peirce was primarily interested in scientific method and mathematics; his objective was to infuse scientific thinking into philosophy and society, and he believed that human comprehension of reality was becoming ever greater and that human communities were becoming increasingly progressive. Peirce developed pragmatism as a theory of meaningin particular, the meaning of concepts used in science. Example: The meaning of the concept brittle, for example, is given by the observed consequences or properties that objects called brittle exhibit. 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. Many philosophers known as logical positivists, a group of philosophers who have been influenced by Peirce, believed that our evolving species was fated to get ever closer to Truth. Logical positivists emphasize the importance of scientific verification, rejecting the assertion of positivism that personal experience is the basis of true knowledge.

WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910), American philosopher and psychologist, who developed the philosophy of pragmatism. In 1907, James published Pragmatism: A New Name for Old Ways of Thinking summed up Jamess original contributions to the theory called pragmatism, a term first used by the American logician C. S. Peirce. James generalized the pragmatic method, developing it from a

critique of the logical basis of the sciences into a basis for the evaluation of all experience. He maintained that the meaning of ideas is found only in terms of their possible consequences. If consequences are lacking, ideas are meaningless. James contended that this is the method used by scientists to define their terms and to test their hypotheses, which, if meaningful, entail predictions. The hypotheses can be considered true if the predicted events take place. On the other hand, most metaphysical theories are meaningless, because they entail no testable predictions. Meaningful theories, James argued, are instruments for dealing with problems that arise in experience. According to Jamess pragmatism, then, truth is that which works. One determines what works by testing propositions in experience. In so doing, one finds that certain propositions become true. As James put it, Truth is something that happens to an idea in the process of its verification; it is not a static property. This does not mean, however, that anything can be true. The true is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as the right is only the expedient in the way of our behaving, James maintained. One cannot believe whatever one wants to believe, because such self-centered beliefs would not work out.
ORIENT VALUE OBSERVE DECIDE INERTIA ACT

VALUE (Stand out)

INERTIA (Part of Group)

JOHN DEWEY John Dewey (1859-1952), American philosopher, psychologist, and educator. During his tenure at Chicago, Dewey became actively interested in the reform of educational theory and practice. He tested his educational principles at the famous experimental Laboratory School, the socalled Dewey School, established by the University of Chicago in 1896. These principles emphasized learning through varied activities rather than formal curricula and opposed authoritarian methods, which, Dewey believed, offered contemporary people no realistic preparation for life in a democratic society. Dewey felt, moreover, that education should not merely be a preparation for future life but a full life in itself. His work and his writings were largely responsible for the drastic change in pedagogy that began in the United States early in the 20th century as emphasis shifted from the institution to the student. Deweys theories have often been misinterpreted by the advocates of so-called progressive education; although Dewey opposed authoritarian methods, he did not advocate lack of guidance and control. He

criticized education that emphasized amusing the students and keeping them busy, as well as education that was oriented toward pure vocational training. As a philosopher, Dewey emphasized the practical, striving to show how philosophical ideas can work in everyday life. His sense of logic and philosophy was ever-changing, adaptive to need and circumstance. The process of thinking, in his philosophy, is a means of planning action, of removing the obstacles between what is given and what is wanted. Truth is an idea that has worked in practical experience. Dewey followed the American philosopher and psychologist William James as a leader of the pragmatic movement in philosophy; Deweys own philosophy, called either instrumentalism or experimentalism, stems from the pragmatism of James. Instrumentalism, in American philosophy, variety of pragmatism developed at the University of Chicago by John Dewey and his colleagues. Thought is considered by instrumentalists a method of meeting difficulties, particularly such difficulties as arise when immediate, unreflective experience is interrupted by the failure of habitual or instinctive modes of reaction to cope with a new situation. According to the doctrine, thinking consists of the formulation of plans or patterns of both overt action and unexpressed responses or ideas; in each case, the goals of thought are a wider experience and a successful resolution of problems. In this view, ideas and knowledge are exclusively functional processes; that is, they are of significance only as they are instrumental in the development of experience. The realistic and experimental emphasis of instrumentalism has had a far-reaching effect on American thought; Dewey and his followers applied it with conspicuous success in such fields as education and psychology. As a philosopher, Dewey emphasized the practical, striving to show how philosophical ideas can work in everyday life. His sense of logic and philosophy was ever-changing, adaptive to need and circumstance. The process of thinking, in his philosophy, is a means of planning action, of removing the obstacles between what is given and what is wanted. Truth is an idea that has worked in practical experience. Dewey followed the American philosopher and psychologist William James as a leader of the pragmatic movement in philosophy; Deweys own philosophy, called either instrumentalism or experimentalism, stems from the pragmatism of James.

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ERIC M. DE GUZMAN MAE - Mathematics