Pragmatism in philosophy (W. James, C. Pearce, D. Dewey)

Pragmatism in philosophy arises in the 70s of the XIXcentury, the main ideas of the flow were expressed by Charles Pierce. Pragmatists believed that they completely reformed philosophy, abandoning its basic principles and deciding to use their own approach to the consideration of human life. The fundamental idea of ​​the flow is a practical attitude towards the life of each individual. Pragmatism in philosophy, in short, suggests not to waste time on solving theoretical problems that have no relation to reality, but to be interested only in human, pressing problems and consider everything from the point of view of one’s own advantage.

As mentioned above, the founder of the movementbecame Charles Pierce. It is important to note that his philosophical doctrine is not limited exclusively to pragmatism and its justification. Pierce says that thinking is necessary only to develop a sustainable belief, that is, a conscious willingness to act in one way or another in each particular case. Knowledge in his philosophy is not a transition from ignorance to knowledge, but a movement from doubt to firm belief. Pierce believes that belief is true if an action based on it leads to a corresponding practical result. The so-called "Pierce principle" defines all the pragmatism in philosophy, the whole essence of human ideas is exhausted by the real (practical) results that can be extracted from them. There are also three main ideas from the direction of Pierce’s teaching:

• thinking is the achievement of subjective psychological satisfaction;
• truth is what manifests as a practical result;
• things - a set of practical consequences.

William James, a follower of the ideas of Pierce, saysthat each person has his own philosophy. Reality is multifaceted, and each individual has his own way of perceiving it, and the combination of all these methods leads to the creation of a pluralistic picture of the world. The truth is that which more closely matches the specific life situation and most closely matches the experience of each individual person. Pragmatism in the philosophy of James also takes as a basis the perception of truth as something that has a practical embodiment. His famous quote: "Truth is a credit card that is valid only under certain conditions."

Современная западная философия прагматизм Джона Dewey regards as the most influential teaching of the entire direction. Dewey argued that he created the philosophy of a democratic society. He developed a theory of scientific research, but the science in his teaching is only a method by which people take the most optimal actions. Objective knowledge about the world is impossible. Cognition - the active intervention of the subject in the research process, an experiment on the object. Thinking serves to solve problem situations. Reality is created in the process of scientific research. Different products of the society (laws, ideas) do not reflect reality, but serve to obtain practical benefits in a particular situation.