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Pragmatism

Pragmatism is a philosophical movement originated by Charles Sanders Peirce and William James in the United States at the last of the nineteenth century, drawing on earlier thinkers such as Hume and Reid for both its naturalistic view of knowledge and for the realism of its content. Pragmatism is notable for its practical approach to questions of meaning and the truth value of ideas.

James considered the test of any theory, belief or doctrine could be judged by its effect upon the person holding them 'true' - resulting in an entirely practical philosophy perhaps best described by the axiom that truth is useful because it is true, and true because it is useful. Thus all things rational are not necessarily true, and all things true are not necessarily rational. Pragmatism does rely on a certain sensual empiricism - conscious experience - in order to establish that there is a truth to be known.

This view considers knowledge itself to be a tool of organismic life, and consciousness to be a unity of active seeking (of knowledge) for its practical utility to life. Pragmatism attempts to explain how the relationship between the seeker of knowledge and the knowledge sought 'works' in the world, using both psychology and biology for its explanatory base.

Web Resources On Pragmatism

American Pragmatism
Pragmatism Cybrary
Pragmatic Tests and Ethical Insights

Book Resources On Pragmatism

Pragmatism by William James
Pragmatism Old and New by Susan Haack, ed.
Pragmatism and Its Critics by Addison Webster Moore

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