Chapter 4 : Metaphysics
PRAGMATISM
(NOTE: You must read only
those linked materials that are preceded by the capitalized word READ.)
READ this material on the pragmatist theory of reality and this
The pragmatists applied their theory of meaning and truth to language about reality to find that such language does not necessarily describe reality as it is or may be but that the word itself has whatever meaning is assigned to it by the group of speakers. Thus different groups can have different realities and that are equally accurate and truthful if the language satisfies the expectations of the group concerning the use of that language. The idea of reality is seen as a construct, which performs certain functions. There is not an external something to which the language refers and against which the language can be evaluated for its accuracy. Talk about reality is performing social functions.
There is no one thing that is reality!
READ: Dallas Roark
READ Rorty, Putnam, and the Pragmatist View of Epistemology and Metaphysics. by Teed Rockwell published in Education and Culture: the Journal of the John Dewey Society (Spring 2003)
This idea served the postmodern movement to declare that there is no one reality and that there can be multiple simultaneous realities.
VIDEO: Who founded Pragmatism
Challenges to this Metaphysical Position: Pragmatism
The problem is the problem of multiple realities coexisting.
Proceed to the next section.
Introduction to Philosophy by Philip A. Pecorino is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.