Pragmatic is a philosophy that aims to provide a coherent system of thought which can address a wide range of questions and problems. The main tenets of the pragmatist approach are that 1) life is a process of learning through experience; 2) truth is what we make it; and 3) knowledge is actionable, meaning that we can make progress by using practical rules to evaluate and change our beliefs. In addition to these foundational tenets, pragmatism has expanded into several allied disciplines. These include naturalism, existentialism, hedonism, and social constructivism.
While pragmatism can be traced back to Peirce, it was William James who gave it its name in 1907. In a series of lectures on ‘The Present Dilemma in Philosophy’, James identified a fundamental clash of temperaments in the history of philosophy between ‘tough-minded empiricists’ and ‘tender-minded’ philosophers, who differed in their approaches to solving philosophical problems. He promised that pragmatism would resolve the dispute by bringing together empiricism and rationality in a new way.
Peirce’s core pragmatist principle was the Pragmatic Maxim, a rule for clarifying the meaning of hypotheses by tracing their ‘practical consequences’ in particular situations. The Maxim helped give rise to a distinctive epistemological outlook: a fallibilist, anti-Cartesian explication of the norms that govern inquiry. But despite this broad outlook, early pragmatists split over a host of questions – notably whether they should conceive of pragmatism as a scientific philosophy holding monism about truth (following Peirce) or a broader alethic pluralism (following James and Dewey).
A number of neopragmatists have continued to develop the tenets of classical pragmatics. However, it is important to note that their focus is generally on linguistic and psychological pragmatics rather than on the ‘philosophical’ pragmatics of the classic period. This distinction can be seen in books such as Bach and Harnish’s ‘Speech Acts in Context’, which clearly locates their work within far-side pragmatics whilst also declaring that their study of utterance interpretation is not ‘philosophical’ but ‘linguistic’, thus separating it from the philosophy of language focussed upon by the classic pragmatists.
To help readers explore the wide variety of topics addressed by pragmatism, this entry includes references to collections of papers by both classic and contemporary pragmatists. It also includes links to online resources which may be of interest. In addition to these, a selection of key works by both Peirce and James are included in the bibliography. This bibliography is constantly updated to reflect new developments in the field of pragmatism. For this reason, readers are encouraged to visit this bibliography on a regular basis. This is especially important in light of the ongoing debate between neopragmatists and those who wish to rehabilitate the original ideals of classical pragmatics. For this reason, the Bibliography is divided into two parts: the first section identifies key readings for classical and neopragmatist pragmatics, the second identifies key writings on linguistic and psychological pragmatics. In the case of the former, it also contains a list of reference books which will allow readers to trace the development of this fascinating philosophy.
