Pragmatism, as a school of philosophy, is a collection of many different ways of thinking. Given the diversity among thinkers and the variety among schools of thought that have adopted this term over the years, the term pragmatism has become all but meaningless in the absence of further qualification. Most of the thinkers who describe themselves as pragmatists point to some connection with practical consequences or real effects as vital components of both meaning and truth. The precise character of these links to pragmata is however as diverse as the thinkers who do the pointing.

Some pragmatists object to the view that beliefs represent reality, and instead argue that beliefs are dispositions which qualify as true or false depending on how helpful a disposition proves in accomplishing the believer's goals. For this type of pragmatist it is only in the struggle of intelligent organisms with the surrounding environment that theories acquire meaning, and only with a theory's success in this struggle that it becomes true. As a rule, however, pragmatists do not hold that anything that is practical or useful, or that anything that helps to survive merely in the short-term, should be regarded as true. Instead, most of them argue that what should be taken as true is that which contributes the most good over the longest course. In the case of C.S. Peirce's pragmatism, this means that theoretical claims should be tied to verification practices — that is, one should be able to make predictions and test them. Truth is defined, for Peirce, as the ultimate outcome of inquiry by a (usually) scientific community of investigators. For William James and many of his followers, the meaning of any term consisted, rather, in the grasping of the consequences for action that the acceptance of the truth of the term entails. Truth itself, on this view, is not that which contributes the most good to the community, but that which contributes the most good to the individual.

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PRAGMATISM: WILL over reason, the politics of FEAR, the KINGS philosophy. To continue go to::: whatispragmatism.wordpress.com
marvinzalowitz (Marvin Zalowitz) Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:49:21 -0000
PRAGMATISM: WILL over reason, the politics of FEAR, the KINGS philosophy. To continue go to::: whatispragmatism.wordpress.com
just used a table to achieve a consistent cross-browser 'display:table-cell' -stylee layout. #Pragmatism #SueMe
sherwinrice (sherwin rice) Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:08:52 -0000
just used a table to achieve a consistent cross-browser 'display:table-cell' -stylee layout. #Pragmatism #SueMe
@BetaRish exactly! I practice pragmatism & will give thanks for beaut Subscribe to Pragmatism RSS feed