Pragmatic is a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of practical consequences, and rejects ideas that do not produce satisfactory results. This philosophical movement, which has also influenced non-philosophers (in fields such as law, education, politics, sociology and psychology) began in the United States during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This article deals exclusively with pragmatism as a movement within philosophy, rather than a school of thought.
Originally, pragmatists were a group of Harvard-educated men who met for informal discussions in the 1870s. This “Metaphysical Club” included Chauncey Wright, future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and two of the first self-consciously pragmatists, Charles Sanders Peirce and William James. The pragmatists revolted against the overly intellectual, fastidious and closed systems of idealism that characterized 19th century philosophy. Their goal was to open up the subjective experience of the mind, and thereby expand our understanding of nature, life, and reason, away from its traditional interpretation in abstract and fixed intellectual categories.
The pragmatists developed a theory of truth that rejected the correspondence theory of knowledge and emphasized the role of the observer’s experience of the world in determining what knowledge is. They also developed a theory of action that stresses the importance of achieving results and taking into account the effects of one’s actions on others.
In addition, pragmatists were critical of the idealism that had dominated 19th century philosophy and sought to replace it with a more naturalistic, empirical view of reality. Finally, they rejected the idealist doctrine of a unified universe that they believed was not supported by empirical evidence.
Over time, pragmatists have developed many different views on a wide variety of issues, including truth, realism, skepticism, perception, justification, realism, fallibilism, conceptual schemes, and the function of philosophy itself. As a result, pragmatism does not have a party-line. Different pragmatists have developed different positions on major issues and have disagreed with each other about what pragmatism actually means.
However, in recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in pragmatism. A number of contemporary philosophers, called neo-pragmatists by some, have explored and selectively adapted themes and ideas from the rich tradition established by Peirce, James, and Dewey. The neo-pragmatists include, among others, Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Nicholas Rescher, and Jurgen Habermas. The article contains brief sketches of some of these pragmatists and their ideas.