Philosophy of pragmatism

Pragmatism is one of the influential philosophical trends of the 20th century, especially in its homeland - in the United States of America. The name comes from the Greek word meaning action, action. Pragmatism is often called the philosophy of action, action, thereby emphasizing its practical focus. According to pragmatism, the only criterion of truth is the success of any initiative, deed, deed. Therefore, often pragmatism is perceived as one of the forms of a worldly philosophy. However, such a superficial glance does not capture significant signs of pragmatism. Not understanding them, it is difficult to understand the reasons for his long success and sustained influence. It is pragmatism that Western European philosophy owes to the introduction and subsequent detailed development of the theme of human activity.

The origins of pragmatism lie in German philosophy, in particular, they are present in the works of Hegel and Nietzsche. In the following, the initial ideas of pragmatism are noted in the writings of A. Bergson. Representations about pragmatism as a philosophical form of thinking, cognition are formed within the framework of a tendency to revise the nature of knowledge and truth. "An epistemological subject" was replaced by a "subject interested", indifferent to the truth as such. For this subject, consciousness exists only as a means of solving non-cognitive tasks. The main thing is the satisfaction of the need for successful action. This is the trend that develops and ends in pragmatism.

The subject of philosophical research includes the question of the purposeful activity of man. Especially favorable conditions (socio-economic, political) for the formation of pragmatism have developed in the United States. Much contributed to this notorious American way of life and his propaganda. As already noted, pragmatism is often identified with utility. But this is one side of the problem.

The other, in particular, is connected with the inclusion in the cognitive process of an interested gnoseological subject instead of a subject. Previously, the subject only felt and thought, in other words, his life was determined by one - the passion for knowledge. Now we offer a completely different model. The activity of the cognizing subject is stimulated by the need for purposeful action. For such a subject, knowledge and truth ceased to be an absolute goal and turned into a means. Already Nietzsche, and later also pragmatists noted a curious fact: to successfully operate, it is not always necessary to have true knowledge. One of the attitudes of pragmatism - to succeed, it is necessary not so much to know as to know how (to know - to know how).

In substantiating such statements, an important role is played by the notion of the relative nature of theoretical knowledge. Indeed, long before the modern view of the nature of the universe, the geocentric system of the world has served people for thousands of years. The same can be said about Euclidean geometry, Newtonian mechanics, and even about social theories - and it is not worth talking about.

To understand the essence of pragmatism, it is advisable to consider it on the example of the work of Charles Pearce (1839-1914), the founder of the philosophy of pragmatism. After much reflection on the fundamental principles of pragmatist doctrine in 1904, he published a book "What is pragmatism". But it turns out that he takes the name of his teaching from Kant, who calls the belief necessary for an action that can not be grounded in knowledge, called pragmatic faith.

Thus, Pierce develops this idea and speaks already of an action based not on knowledge but faith. The fact is that consciousness experiences two states: doubt and faith. Man, according to Pierce, seeks at all costs to get rid of the unpleasant state of doubt and achieve a pleasant - faith. The content of faith is exhausted by an action that the believing subject is ready to perform. For example, two people of different convictions live but are ready to act in the same way, from which it follows that there is no difference in their beliefs. Therefore, faith is a willingness to act specially.

The only worthy function of thought is the ability to achieve a stable belief. Because of this, thinking is aimed at satisfying not cognitive interest, but the desire for peace. This is especially important for a society that is constantly in a situation of physical and psychological overload. Modern man tends, according to pragmatists, to emotional rest, to psychological satisfaction as a result of overcoming doubts.