Pragmatic Genuine Philosophy
Pragmatism places emphasis on experience and context. It could be lacking a clear set of foundational principles or an encapsulated ethical framework. This can result in an absence of idealistic goals or transformational changes.
In contrast to deflationary theories pragmatic theories do not reject the notion that statements are correlated to actual events. They simply elucidate the roles that truth plays in practical activities.
Definition
The term "pragmatic" is used to describe things or people that are practical, rational and sensible. It is often used to distinguish between idealistic, which is an idea or a person that is based on ideals or high principles. A person who is pragmatic considers the actual world circumstances and conditions when making decisions, focusing on what can realistically be achieved as opposed to trying to find the most effective practical course of action.
Pragmatism, a brand new philosophical movement, emphasizes the importance that practical consequences are crucial in determining the meaning, truth or value. It is a third option to the dominant analytic and continental philosophical traditions. It was founded by Charles Sanders Peirce and William James with Josiah Royce as its founders, pragmatism evolved into two competing streams one of which is akin to relativism, and the other toward realist thought.
One of the most important issues in pragmatism concerns the nature of truth. Many pragmatists acknowledge that truth is a valuable concept, but disagree on the definition or how it functions in practice. One approach, influenced heavily by Peirce & James, concentrates on how people resolve questions and make assertions and gives priority to the speech-acts and justification projects that people use to determine if something is true. Another approach that is influenced by Rorty and his followers, concentrates on the comparatively simple functions of truth, namely its ability to generalize, recommend, and caution--and is less concerned with the full-blown theory of truth.
The primary flaw in this neo-pragmatic method of determining truth is that it stray with relativism, since the concept of "truth" is a concept with been around for so long and has such a extensive history that it is unlikely that it could be reduced to the mundane purposes that pragmatists give it. Furthermore, pragmatism seems dismiss the existence of truth in its metaphysical sense. This is reflected by the fact that pragmatists such as Brandom who owe a lot to Peirce and James but are in silence about metaphysics, while Dewey has made only one mention of truth in his many writings.
Purpose
Pragmatism is a philosophy that aims to provide an alternative to the analytic and continental traditions of philosophy. Charles Sanders Peirce, William James and their Harvard colleague Josiah Royce (1860-1916) were the first to initiate its first generation. The classical pragmatists were focused on theorizing inquiry, meaning and the nature of truth. Their influence was felt by numerous influential American thinkers, including John Dewey (1860-1952), who applied their ideas to education and social improvement in various dimensions. Jane Addams (1860-1935), who founded social work also gained from this influence.
In recent years, a new generation of philosophers has given pragmatism a larger platform for debate. While they are different from classic pragmatists these neo-pragmatists believe themselves to be part of the same tradition. Robert Brandom is their main figure. He focuses his work on semantics and philosophy of language but also draws from the philosophy of Peirce, James, and others.
One of the major distinctions between the classic pragmatists and neo-pragmatists is 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. Neo-pragmatists concentrate on the concept of "ideal justified assertionibility," which declares that an idea is true if it can be justified to a specific audience in a specific way.
This viewpoint is not without its problems. It is often accused of being used to support unfounded and absurd theories. An example of this is the gremlin theory: It is a genuinely useful idea, it works in practice, but it is utterly unfounded and probably absurd. This isn't a huge issue however it does highlight one of the main flaws of pragmatism: it can be used to justify nearly everything, which is the case for many ridiculous ideas.
Significance
When making decisions, pragmatic means taking into account the real world and its circumstances. It can also be used to describe a philosophical position that emphasizes the practical consequences in determining the meaning values, truth or. William James (1842-1910) first employed the term pragmatism describe this view in a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley. James was adamant that the term was coined by his colleague 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 value and fact as well as experience and thought, mind and body, analytic and synthetic, and other such distinctions. Highly recommended Internet site rejected the notion of truth as something fixed or objective and instead saw it as a dynamic socially-determined idea.
Classical pragmatics primarily focused on the theory of inquiry, meaning, and the nature of truth however James put these ideas to work by exploring the truth of religion. A second generation shifted the pragmatist view of education, politics, and other aspects of social development, under the great influence of John Dewey (1859-1952).
The neo-pragmatists of recent decades have tried to place pragmatism within a broader Western philosophical context, by tracing the affinities of Peirce's theories with Kant and other idealists from the 19th century and the new science of evolutionary theory. They also sought to define the role of truth in an original a priori epistemology and develop a pragmatic Metaphilosophy that includes theories of language, meaning, and the nature and the origin of knowledge.
Yet, pragmatism continues to evolve, and the a posteriori epistemology was developed is considered an important distinction from traditional approaches. The pragmatic theory has been criticized for a long time but in recent times it has been receiving more attention. Some of these include the idea that pragmatism fails when applied to moral issues and that its assertion of "what works" is nothing more than a realism with an unpolished appearance.
Methods
Peirce's epistemological approach included a pragmatic explanation. Peirce saw it as a method of destroying false metaphysical notions like the Catholic understanding of transubstantiation, Cartesian epistemology that relies on certainty-seeking strategies and Kant's notion of a 'thing in itself' (Simson 2010).
The Pragmatic Maxim, according to many modern pragmatists is the best one can expect from a theory about truth. They tend to avoid deflationist accounts of truth that need to be verified to be legitimate. They advocate for a different method they call "pragmatic explanation". This is the process of explaining how a concept is applied in practice and identifying criteria that must be met in order to be able to recognize it as valid.
This approach is often criticized for being a form relativism. But it's less extreme than the deflationist alternatives and is thus a useful way to get around some of the issues associated with relativist theories of truth.
In the wake of this, a variety of liberatory philosophical ideas, such as those associated to eco-philosophy and feminism, Native American philosophy, and Latin American philosophy, look for guidance from the pragmatist traditions. Furthermore many philosophers of the analytic tradition (such as Quine) have adopted pragmatism with a level of enthusiasm that Dewey himself could not manage.
It is important to acknowledge that pragmatism, though rich in history, also has a few serious shortcomings. Particularly, pragmatism does not provide a meaningful test of truth, and it fails when applied to moral questions.
Some of the most prominent pragmatists, such as Quine and Wilfrid Sellars, also criticized the philosophy. Richard Rorty and Robert Brandom are among philosophers who have brought the philosophy from the obscurity. These philosophers, although not being classical pragmatists themselves have a lot in common with the philosophy and work of Peirce James and Wittgenstein. The works of these philosophers are well recommended to anyone interested in this philosophical movement.