pragmatism
nounUS /ˈpɹæɡmətɪzəm/ · UK /ˈpɹaɡmətɪzəm/
Etymology From Ancient Greek stem of πρᾶγμα (prâgma, “act”) + -ism.
1
The pursuit of practicality over aesthetic qualities; a concentration on facts rather than emotions or ideals.
2
Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences The idea that beliefs are identified with the actions of a believer, and the truth of beliefs with success of those actions in securing a believer's goals; the doctrine that ideas must be looked at in terms of their practical effects and consequences.
- Our conception of these practical consequences is for us the whole of our conception of the object, so far as that conception has positive significance at all. This is the principle of [Charles Sanders] Peirce, the principle of pragmatism.1902, William James, “Lecture XVIII: Philosophy”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 445:
3
Government, Politics The theory that political problems should be met with practical solutions rather than ideological ones.
4
Obsolete The habit of interfering in other people's affairs; meddlesomeness.
- Antonyms
- idealism, contemplation
- Derived terms
- antipragmatism, ecopragmatism, neopragmatism, polypragmatism
- Related terms
- pragmatic, pragmatically, pragmatist