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Philosophy vocabulary · Schools and Movements

Pragmatism

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ˈpræɡmətɪzəm/nounCommon term

In philosophy, pragmatism means: An American philosophical movement holding that the meaning and truth of ideas depend on their practical consequences and on how well they work in experience.

In Turkish: pragmatizm, pragmacılık

How it is used

Founded by Charles Sanders Peirce and William James and developed by John Dewey; Richard Rorty is a later representative. In everyday English pragmatism means a practical, realistic attitude, which is related but much looser.

Example sentences

  1. William James's pragmatism treats true beliefs as those that prove useful in the long run.

  2. Dewey applied pragmatism to education and democracy.

Common collocations

  • American pragmatism
  • classical pragmatism
  • pragmatic theory of truth
  • neo-pragmatism
  • truthThe property a statement or belief has when it matches how things are; philosophers disagree about what this matching really consists in.
  • empiricismThe view that all or most of our knowledge comes from experience through the senses, rather than from reason alone.
  • analytic philosophyA style of philosophy, dominant in English-speaking universities, that stresses clear argument, logical analysis and close attention to language and science.
  • utilitarianismAn ethical theory holding that the right action is the one that produces the greatest overall happiness or well-being for everyone affected.

More terms: Schools and Movements

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