pragmatism

functionalism

structuralism

William James

is a method of ascertaining the meanings of hard words and of abstract concepts.

Peirce defines pragmatism as a 'method of ascertaining the meanings of hard words and of abstract concepts.'

is a movement that says: Do not charge a current social practice or a currently spoken language with being unfaithful to reality, with getting things wrong.

is a movement that says: Do not criticize a current social practice as a result of ideology or prejudice, where these are tacitly contrasted with your own employment of a truth-tracking faculty called 'reason' or a neutral method called 'disinterested observation.'.

is a movement that says: Do not even criticize a current social practice as 'unjust' if 'unjust' is supposed to mean more than 'sometimes incoherent even on its own terms'.

is a movement that says: Drop the appeal to neutral criteria, and the claim that something large like nature or reason or history or the moral law is on the side of the oppressed.

is a movement that says: Instead of appealing from the transitory current appearances to the permanent reality, appeal to a still only dimly imagined future practice.

is a movement that says: Just make invidious comparisons between the actual present and a possible, if inchoate, future.

The import of Dewey's pragmatism for movements such as feminism can be seen if we paraphrase Dewey as follows: do not charge a current social practice or a currently spoken language with being unfaithful to reality, with getting things wrong. Do not criticize it as a result of ideology or prejudice, where these are tacitly contrasted with your own employment of a truth-tracking faculty called 'reason' or a neutral method called 'disinterested observation.' Do not even criticize it as 'unjust' if 'unjust' is supposed to mean more than 'sometimes incoherent even on its own terms.' Instead of appealing from the transitory current appearances to the permanent reality, appeal to a still only dimly imagined future practice. Drop the appeal to neutral criteria, and the claim that something large like Nature or Reason or History or the Moral Law is on the side of the oppressed. Instead, just make invidious comparisons between the actual present and a possible, if inchoate, future.

is a theory of truth as well as a theory of meaning.

pragmatism, n.Memes

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