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Definition: pragmatism from Philip's Encyclopedia

Philosophical school holding the view that the truth of a proposition has no absolute standing but depends on its practical value or use. Primarily supported by US philosophers, C.S. Peirce first formulated pragmatism, and William James and John Dewey adopted and adapted it.


pragmatism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(prăg'mӘtĭzӘm), method of philosophy in which the truth of a proposition is measured by its correspondence with experimental results and by its practical outcome. Thought is considered as simply an instrument for supporting the life aims of the human organism and has no real metaphysical significance. Pragmatism stands opposed to doctrines that hold that truth can be reached through deductive reasoning from a priori grounds and insists on the need for inductive investigation and constant empirical verification of hypotheses. There is constant protest against speculation concerning questions that have no application and no verifiable answers. Pragmatism holds that truth is modified as discoveries are made and is relative to the time and place and purpose of inquiry. In its ethical aspect pragmatism holds that knowledge that contributes to human values is real and that values play as essential a role in the choice of means employed in order to attain an end as they do in the choice of…
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Full text Article Pragmatism

From World of Sociology, Gale
Pragmatism is a unique school of American philosophical thought. Its approach constitutes the very core of classical American philosophy , first conceived of and named at the Cambridge Metaphysical Club, founded by William James and Charles Peirce. Its development coincided with the Progressive Era…
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Full text Article pragmatism

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
This philosophical school, founded in the United States in the nineteenth century, originates in the belief that philosophical standards, and especially the standards of truth, should be grounded in the efficacy of the practices that would result from their use. Pragmatism is averse to all…
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Full text Article pragmatism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(prăg'mӘtĭzӘm), method of philosophy in which the truth of a proposition is measured by its correspondence with experimental results and by its practical outcome. Thought is considered as simply an instrument for supporting the life aims of the human organism and has no real metaphysical…
| 462 words
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Full text Article Pragmatism

From Philosophy of Science A-Z
Philosophical school that has shaped most of philosophy in the USA. Its three most important defenders were James , Peirce and John Dewey (1859–1952). It has influenced the thought of philosophers as diverse as Quine , Sellars and Richard Rorty (born 1931). Though it is hard to offer a succinct…
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Full text Article Pragmatism

From International Encyclopedia of Human Geography
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Glossary Pragmatism: A philosophical orientation which pays attention to the practical consequences rather than the metaphysical origins of ideas. Pragmatist Geographies: Geographies adopting a pragmatist orientation which emphasizes how the search for…
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Full text Article PRAGMATISM

From Global Dictionary of Theology
Pragmatism is an American school of philosophy that derives from the thought of Charles Pierce in the late nineteenth century and, especially, his better known followers William James and John Dewey. These thinkers argued that truth is determined by the effects, or cash value, of a proposition in…
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Full text Article PRAGMATISM

From The Edinburgh Dictionary of Modernism
An American school of philosophy of the second half of the nineteenth century that developed mainly around the work of Charles Sanders Peirce and William James. It establishes that philosophical questions should be tested against their ultimate practical consequences, namely whether they work. It…
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Full text Article pragmatism

From Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
1 . A philosophical theory associated with the names of the American philosophers C. S. Peirce (1839–1914), William James (1842–1910) and John Dewey , which identifies the meaning and justification of beliefs through the practical results of holding them. Pragmatism can be seen as a form of…
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Full text Article Pragmatism

From The Social Science Jargon-Buster
Core definition A doctrine holding that truth and value can only be determined by practical application and consequences. Longer explanation Philosophy isn't usually described as ‘down to earth’, but pragmatism, which arose from the USA in the early twentieth century, attempts to get philosophers' …
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Full text Article Pragmatism

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
William James. Division of Educational Studies,...
The original concept of pragmatism can be attributed to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), who, using the term pragmatism in an article in Popular Science Monthly in 1878, asserted that the meaning or truth of an idea is found in an examination of the consequences to which the idea would lead. The…
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