The quality or state of being pragmatic; in literature, the pragmatic, or philosophical, method.
A view put forward at the turn of the 19th/20th century, that only those issues that would make a difference should be debated - if it won't make a difference either way, why even bother considering it? William James was a famous proponent.
Problem-solving that relates to everyday concerns. William James distinguished 'knowledge of' and 'knowledge about'.
the doctrine that truth is the practical efficacy of an idea.
Pragmatism unstiffens all our theories, limbers them up and sets each one at work. Being nothing essentially new, it harmonizes with many ancient philosophical tendencies. William James
Part of the symbolic interactionist view, which suggests that meaning lies essentially in how people act or behave. James and Peirce believed that the function of thought is to guide human action.
(philosophy) the doctrine that practical consequences are the criteria of knowledge and meaning and value
the attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth
The idea that philosophical truth (usually ethics, sometimes aesthetics) is determined by the practical outcome or result of ideas.
an ethical system based on the expedient way to accomplish a desired result, regardless of the means.
A philosophical approach that explains meaning and truth in terms of the application of ideas and beliefs to practical action.
the notion that truth is the practical application of an idea; a theory which emphasizes the instrumental nature of the intellect and which sees the consummation of truth in direct, successful action. The earliest pragmatist philosophers were Americans: C.S. Peirce and William James among them.
a philosophy that stresses the intimate relation between thought and action by defining the meaning of our conceptions in terms of the practical effects we associate with them and the truth of our beliefs in terms of how successfully they guide our actions
The doctrine, or rather attitude, which places all knowledge and truth in a direct relation to life and action; it judges the value of ideas, judgments, hypotheses, theories, and systems, according to their capacity to satisfy human needs and interests in a social way.
A belief that the truth behind any ethical assertion can be judged only by its practical consequences. Principles. Sets of values that form the basis of moral standards such as “honesty” and “trust.” Such sets of principles become the basis for determining how ethical a given society truly is. See Values.
A method in philosophy where value is determined by practical results.
Philosophy that holds that both the meaning and the truth of any idea is a function of its practical outcome.
Pragmatism is a school of philosophy that originated with Charles Sanders Peirce (who first stated the pragmatic maxim) and came to fruition in the early twentieth-century philosophies of William James and John Dewey. Most of the thinkers who describe themselves as pragmatists consider practical consequences or real effects to be vital components of both meaning and truth. Other important aspects of pragmatism include a thoroughgoing naturalism and anti-cartesianism, radical empiricism, a combination of metaphysical realism and psychologism sometimes termed instrumentalism, the reconciliation of anti-skepticism and fallibilism and last but not least the primacy of practice.