The Rise of Pragmatic Philosophy in the Late 19th Century

Pragmatism is a popular philosophical position which became very famous in the late 19th century. It states that knowledge and action are not separate from each other and the value of knowledge lies in its practical consequences. In other words, knowledge is only as true as its practical consequences and their impact.

Pragmatism is considered an eclectic mixture of a wide range of thoughts which tend to explain the nature of knowledge and truth in the best possible manner. It states that if something does not have practical consequences that can have a long term impact, it cannot be the absolute truth. Pragmatists state that anything in the universe that cannot be proven useful in action cannot be considered true. In other words, in order to hold something as truth, it must have a long term impact and not a short term one. This, in essence, is the same thing that a lot of philosophers over the years have stated, but it has a different approach towards the same.

When you say that you believe something is true, what you mean is that you are not sure whether it is absolutely true or not. It is the reason why you use the word belief and not the word knowledge. So, a belief is not true unless or until it is verified by means of its practical consequences in one's life. So, if a thing has a short term impact in one's life and does not appear to be true in the long term, it cannot be considered true at all. So, a thing needs to be useful through its practical consequences in one's life for a long term in order to be adjudged the absolute truth.

C.S. Peirce was the one who contributed a lot to the philosophical position of pragmatism among others like William James, John Dewey, and George Herbert. He came up with the concepts of mutability of truth and conceptual relativity, both of which are considered important to date. He stated that the nature of a thing to be true at one time and untrue at another time does not add any value to the philosophy of pragmatism and therefore such a thing should not be considered true at all.

For example, for a problem in one's life, one might find a solution which seems to be the ideal one at that point of time. But later, if one encounters the same problem, and if the solution which worked before does not work and if one needs to find a different solution, then the solution which was considered true at that time cannot be considered true at this time. In other words, the solution which was considered true in the past has become untrue now. This is the reason why C.S. Peirce stated that something should be considered true only if it stays true throughout the course of time, not just for a brief period of time. Pragmatism is one of the few schools of thoughts which are considered effective to find out absolute truth in existence to date.