Pragmatism
From the 1870s
The American tradition that judges ideas by their practical consequences, and treats truth as what works in the long run of inquiry.
The core idea
Pragmatism began in conversations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the 1870s. Charles Sanders Peirce proposed that the meaning of a concept lies in its conceivable practical effects. William James made the idea famous, arguing that true beliefs are those that prove their worth in experience, and that where evidence cannot decide, we may choose what to believe. John Dewey applied it to education, democracy and ethics.
Pragmatists reject sharp divisions between theory and practice, facts and values, mind and world. Knowledge is a tool for coping, always open to revision. In the late twentieth century Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam gave the tradition a new lease of life.
What they hold
- The meaning of an idea lies in its practical consequences.
- Truth is what would be agreed on at the end of honest inquiry, or what works in experience.
- All beliefs are fallible and open to revision.
- Philosophy should serve real human problems.
The main criticisms
Critics object that defining truth as what works confuses truth with usefulness: a comforting falsehood might 'work'. Bertrand Russell pressed this objection against James. Others find pragmatism too vague to settle disputes it claims to dissolve.
“My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.”
William James, Diary, 1870
Key figures
Where it comes up
Further reading
- EncyclopediaStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Pragmatism
- WikipediaPragmatism