Pragmatism

[Silver Incubus]

I have always found that this part of philosophy is at least attempting to make philosophy useful in modern life.

I'd like to know anyone elses opionions on this branch of philosophy and any really good papers. I have read a William James papper, Pramatism's Conception of Truth

Edit: as I re-read the text James' Pragmatisms claim of truth is : "True Ideas are those that we can asimilate, validate, corroborate and verify. False Ideas are those that we can not."

 

[Cythraul]

I'm not sure I want to get on board with what's commonly considered the pragmatist conception of truth, but I'm pretty sympathetic to a lot of pragmatist views. Anyway, you should definitely read some John Dewey. One of the most prominent contemporary pragmatists is Richard Rorty. Check out his Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature and Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity.

 

[judas69]

I think ideas are fundamentally useless until they can be shown practical in some concrete way, and of course, we should not view the world as a mass of possibility, potential or in terms of the abstract. The monkey philosophy thread I think touches on this very issue and so, I must be a pragmatist.