Pragmatic is an approach to philosophy that focuses on the practical aspects of thought and action. Its most famous proponent is the philosopher John Dewey who wrote: “It is the pragmatic attitude that makes it possible to find a way through life’s many problems.”
In its simplest form, pragmatism is an epistemology that defines truth as what works. Its adherents believe that what is known can be verified through experience and that the process of verification itself has a predictive component. The theory grew out of an informal group of Harvard-educated men called the Metaphysical Club who met informally to discuss philosophical issues during the early 1870s. Some of its members included proto-positivist Chauncey Wright, future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and two then-fledgling philosophers who became the first self-conscious pragmatists: Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), a logician and mathematician, and William James (1842-1910), a psychologist and moralist.
Other pragmatists include Charles Hartshorne, who developed the concept of an innate sense of right and wrong, and Robert M. Pirsig, who argues that a philosophical system must be designed to make its principles useful in the world. In recent years, a number of liberatory philosophical projects in areas like feminism (Seigfried 1996), ecology (Alexander 2013), Native American philosophy, and Latin American philosophy have sought to locate their home within the pragmatist tradition.
Although pragmatism is a powerful philosophy, it does have some flaws. Most of these stem from its approach to ethics and morality. In the case of ethics, a pragmatic approach becomes subjective as it becomes all about what works for individual preferences rather than what actually improves the lives of others. In the case of morality, a pragmatic approach is often used as an excuse for violating one’s personal values by weighing the pros and cons of a given situation.
Another flaw of pragmatism is that it tends to collapse when applied to empirical questions that have emotional components. For example, a pragmatic approach to capitalism is often seen as just another form of relativism since it is all about what works best for individuals. However, a pragmatic approach to morality can also collapse in the same way if it is used to justify actions that harm others.
In general, a pragmatic approach to life is often flawed because it ignores the need for a moral framework. It also fails to recognize that the real world is filled with a variety of ethical and moral issues that are difficult to address in a simple, straightforward manner. For these reasons, it is important to remember that a pragmatic approach is only as good as the results it produces. If the outcome is not what one hopes for, then it must be replaced with a more ethical and morally sound approach.
