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Pragmatic Genuine Philosophy
Pragmatism is a philosophical system that emphasizes the experience and context. It may not have a clear ethical framework or fundamental principles. This can lead to an absence of idealistic goals or transformative change.
Contrary to deflationary theories pragmatic theories do not renounce the notion that statements are related to real-world situations. They simply clarify the roles that truth plays in everyday tasks.
Definition
The word pragmatic is used to describe people or things that are practical, rational and sensible. It is frequently used to contrast with idealistic, which refers to an idea or person that is based on ideals or principles of high quality. A person who is pragmatic looks at the real world situations and circumstances when making decisions, focusing on what is realistically accomplished, rather than trying to find the most effective theoretical course of action.
Pragmatism is an emerging philosophical movement that stresses the importance of practical consequences in determining meaning, truth, or value. It is a third alternative to the dominant continental and analytic philosophical traditions. It was established by Charles Sanders Peirce and William James with Josiah Royce as its founders, pragmatism evolved into two streams of thought, one tending towards relativism and the second toward realism.
One of the central problems in pragmatism is the nature of truth. While many pragmatists agree truth is an important concept, they disagree about how to define it and how it operates in the real world. One approach, influenced by Peirce and James, concentrates on the ways people tackle questions and make assertions. It prioritizes the speech-act and justification projects of language-users in determining whether something is true. One of the approaches, influenced by Rorty's followers, focuses on the more mundane aspects of truth, such as its ability to generalize, praise and be cautious, and is less concerned with an elaborate theory of truth.
The first flaw with this neo-pragmatic view of truth is that it flirts with relativism, since the notion of "truth" is a concept with been around for so long and has such a long-standing history that it appears unlikely that it can be reduced to the common uses to which pragmatists assign it. Another flaw is that pragmatism also appears to be an approach that denies the existence of truth, at the very least in its metaphysical sense. This is evident in the fact that pragmatists, such as Brandom (who owes an obligation to Peirce and James) are largely silent on questions of metaphysics in Dewey's vast writings, whereas his works have just one reference to the issue of truth.
Purpose
The purpose of pragmatism was to provide an alternative to analytic and Continental traditions of philosophy. Charles Sanders Peirce, William James and their Harvard colleague Josiah Royce (1860-1916) were the first to start its first generation. The classical pragmatists were adamant about the importance of inquiry and meaning and the nature of truth. Their influence spread through several influential American thinkers, including John Dewey (1859-1952), who applied their theories to education and other aspects of social improvement, as well as Jane Addams (1860-1935) who founded social work.
More recently a new generation of philosophers have given pragmatism more space to discuss. Although they differ from the classical pragmatists, many of these neo-pragmatists believe themselves to be part of the same tradition. Their principal persona is Robert Brandom, whose work focuses on semantics and the philosophy of language, but who also draws on the philosophy of Peirce and James.
One of the major differences between the classic pragmatics and the neo-pragmatists lies in their understanding of what it takes for an idea to be true. The classical pragmatists focused on a concept called 'truth-functionality,' which states that an idea is genuinely true if it is useful in practice. The neo-pragmatists instead insist on the notion of 'ideal warranted assertibility which states that an idea is true if the claim made about it is justified in a specific manner to a specific audience.
There are, however, some problems with this view. It is often accused of being used to support unfounded and ridiculous theories. The gremlin theory is a prime example: It's a useful idea that is effective in practice but is probably unfounded and untrue. This isn't a huge problem however, it does point out one of the main flaws of pragmatism It can be used to justify almost everything, which is the case for many ridiculous ideas.
Significance
When making decisions, pragmatic means considering the real world and its conditions. It can also be used to refer to a philosophy that emphasizes the practical consequences when determining meaning, truth or values. William James (1842-1910) first used the term pragmatism to describe this perspective in a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley. James was adamant that the word had been invented by his friend and mentor Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), but the pragmatist outlook soon gained a reputation all its own.
The pragmatists rejected the stark dichotomies that are inherent in analytic philosophy such as truth and value, thought and experience, mind and body, analytic and synthetic, and the list goes on. They also rejected the notion of truth as something that is fixed or objective and instead treated it as a constantly evolving socially-determined notion.
Classical pragmatists focused primarily on the theory of inquiry, meaning and the nature of truth though James put these concepts to work exploring truth in religion. A subsequent generation applied the pragmatist perspective on education, politics, and other dimensions of social improvement under the great influence of John Dewey (1859-1952).
In recent years, Neopragmatists have tried to put pragmatism within a wider Western philosophical context. They have analyzed the connections between Peirce's views and those of Kant and other idealists of the 19th century and the emergence of the theory of evolution. They have also sought to understand the role of truth in a traditional a posteriori epistemology and to formulate a pragmatic metaphilosophy that includes the concept of meaning, language and the nature of knowledge.
However, pragmatism has continued to evolve, and the a posteriori epistemology it developed is still regarded as an important departure from more traditional approaches. The people who defend it have had to grapple with a number of arguments that are as old as the theory itself, but have gained more attention in recent times. One of them is the idea that pragmatism fails when applied to moral issues, and that its assertion of "what works" is nothing more than relativism that has an unpolished appearance.
Methods
The epistemological method of Peirce included a pragmatic explanation. Peirce saw it as an opportunity to discredit false metaphysical ideas, such as the Catholic understanding of transubstantiation, and Cartesian certainty searching strategies in epistemology.
The Pragmatic Maxim, according to many modern pragmatists, is the best one can hope for from a theory about truth. In this sense, they tend to steer clear of deflationist theories of truth that need to be verified in order to be deemed valid. They advocate a different approach they call "pragmatic explanation". This involves explaining the way an idea is utilized in real life and identifying the conditions that must be met in order to recognize it as true.
It should be noted that this method could be seen as a form of relativism, and indeed is often criticised for doing so. But it's less extreme than the deflationist alternatives, and therefore is a good way to get around some of the problems with relativism theories of truth.
In the wake of this, a number of liberatory philosophical projects that are related to eco-philosophy, feminism, Native American philosophy, and Latin American philosophy, look for inspiration in the pragmatist traditions. Quine is one example. He is an analytic philosopher who has embraced pragmatism in a way that Dewey could not.
Although pragmatism has a long history, it is important to note that there are also some significant flaws in the philosophy. Particularly, philosophy of pragmatism is not an accurate test of truth and is not applicable to moral issues.
Quine, Wilfrid Solars and other pragmatists have also criticized the philosophy. Richard Rorty and Robert Brandom are among the philosophers who have revived it from obscurity. While More suggestions are not classical pragmatists but they do contribute significantly to the philosophy of pragmatism, and draw inspiration from the work of Peirce, James and Wittgenstein in their writings. These works of philosophers are well worth reading by anyone interested in this philosophical movement.