Speech on Pragmatism

This informative outline template provides a speech on pragmatism, focusing on its importance in the field of school education and its application in educational practice. It discusses the implications of pragmatism on education, different forms of pragmatism, and the principles of pragmatism. The speech aims to inform the audience about the significance of pragmatism in the educational context.

Informative Outline Template (Speech on Pragmatism)
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Topic: Pragmatism as a Philosophy
Narrowed topic: Pragmatism as applicable in case of school practice.
General Purpose: To Inform
Specific Purpose: To inform how pragmatism philosophy can be used in educational practice.
Introduction
I. Attention: Pragmatism is among the most essential philosophy in education.
II. Purpose: To understand the importance of pragmatism in the field of school education.
III. Credibility: Ideas and beliefs are true when they are workable and profitable otherwise ideas are false
(Shusterman, 2016)
IV. Significance to Audience: Pragmatism is viewed by Will Durant as a doctrine and the practical efficacy of an
idea is based on truth.
V. Preview: Pragmatism can be summarized as an experimentation method. It is opposed to the pre-ordained and
pre-determined objectives of school curriculums.
[Transition] Our first subtopic on pragmatism concerns the implications of pragmatism on education.
Body
I. Main Point
A. Pragmatism essentially views education as life, growth, social process for restructuring the experiences of
students as the responsibility of the state.
1. Concerning life, it is the view of pragmatism is that the traditional and conventional forms of education
systems are dead.
2. Pragmatists want the past educational frameworks to be conserved while giving more importance to the
newer issues that are affecting the people. They focus on gaining real life experiences through real life activities are
essential aspects connected with Pragmatism.
B. Pragmatism takes education to be directly connected with growth and development.
1. Education helps to provide essential framework for the development of both individuals and the society.
Children can be considered to be empty bottles that need to be filled up with newer ideas.
2. The children are born with capabilities and capacities that are different from each other. The aim is to
optimally develop these aspects to gain the best possible results. People tend to gain more knowledge through their
experiences rather than the books.
a. People are considered to be social beings in accordance with pragmatism. They gain knowledge through
what they experience from their lives. Additionally, the education of children need to be through the society so that
societal desirable qualities can be embedded within them.
b. Pragmatism considers the continuous restructuring of experiences. Education is considered to be a
developmental process. People gain essential knowledge through the experiments and experiences that they meet by
themselves. Reconstruction of experiences help to widen the scope of knowledge among the children.
i. Personality development and adjustment is seen as is the aim of the entire process. Education is mostly
viewed as a field without any end that restructures and reorganizes all the racial activities.
ii. Connected with the previous point is the aspect of state responsibility. Hence, in accordance with this
education is considered the birthright of the citizens.
[Transition] Next let’s talk about the various forms of Pragmatism.
II. Main Point
A. The first form is called humanistic pragmatism. The human nature is satisfied is accordance with the criterion
of Utility.
1. The second form of pragmatism is known as the experimental pragmatism. This argues that experimental
modes and methods have to be used as per modern science to find out the truth that can be applicable.
2. Another form of pragmatism is the nominalist pragmatism. This type concerns with the fact that when
experiments are made they produce results.

B. Biological pragmatism is such a form of pragmatism that concerns with knowledge as a form of achieving
harmony between man and the environment.
[Transition] The last part of the talk is on principles of pragmatism.
III. Main Point
A. Pragmatism has six principles.
1. Pluralism principles believe in the plurality of things pertaining to knowledge.
2. Reality claims that people look to find the meaning of life through real experiences.
B. Pragmatism is focused on change since the world is constantly changing.
1. According to the utilitarian principles, utility is used to test reality and truth.
2. The changing value principles focus on the fact that change occurs at different times.
a. Old values cannot be always acceptable and tend to change with the changing demands of the world.
b. Men tend to be social animals that need to develop their functional abilities based on their social
environment.
[Transition that signals the end] To conclude let me sum up the key points of the topics.
Conclusion
I. We have seen that the principles of pragmatism are pluralism, change, utilitarianism, changing values and aims,
individualism and emphasis on social aspects.
II. The forms of pragmatism like humanistic, nominalist and biological have wider implications on the lives of
people through education.
III. Pragmatism bring forward that gaining knowledge is more about activity than thoughts.
References
Goldkuhl, G. (2012). Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems
Hickman, L., Neubert, S., & Reich, K. (Eds.). (2009). John Dewey between pragmatism and constructivism.
Fordham University Press.
Kitcher, P. (2012). Preludes to pragmatism: Toward a reconstruction of philosophy. Oxford University Press.
Shusterman R. (2016). Practicing philosophy: Pragmatism and the philosophical life. Routledge; Feb 4.
Shusterman, R. (2016). Practicing philosophy: Pragmatism and the philosophical life. Routledge.
Stuhr, J. J. (2015). Pragmatism, postmodernism and the future of philosophy. Routledge.
White, M. (2009). A philosophy of culture: The scope of holistic pragmatism. Princeton University Press.