Thanks for this. Here’s Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s first paragraph:
”Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that – very broadly – understands knowing the world as inseparable from agency within it. This general idea has attracted a remarkably rich and at times contrary range of interpretations, including: that all philosophical concepts should be tested via scientific experimentation, that a claim is true if and only if it is useful (relatedly: if a philosophical theory does not contribute directly to social progress then it is not worth much), that experience consists in transacting with rather than representing nature, that articulate language rests on a deep bed of shared human practices that can never be fully ‘made explicit’.” https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatism
I’d say pragmatism is as much a criticism of certain directions in philosophy as anything. It’s a method of asking of philosophical distinctions “what difference would that make.” But instead of turning toward skepticism it seeks to reorient philosophy and reasoning toward the fulfillment of human goals.
Thanks for this. Here’s Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s first paragraph:
”Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that – very broadly – understands knowing the world as inseparable from agency within it. This general idea has attracted a remarkably rich and at times contrary range of interpretations, including: that all philosophical concepts should be tested via scientific experimentation, that a claim is true if and only if it is useful (relatedly: if a philosophical theory does not contribute directly to social progress then it is not worth much), that experience consists in transacting with rather than representing nature, that articulate language rests on a deep bed of shared human practices that can never be fully ‘made explicit’.” https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatism
I’d say pragmatism is as much a criticism of certain directions in philosophy as anything. It’s a method of asking of philosophical distinctions “what difference would that make.” But instead of turning toward skepticism it seeks to reorient philosophy and reasoning toward the fulfillment of human goals.