Exploring Pragmatism: Its Principles, Forms, and Educational Impact

This essay provides a detailed overview of pragmatism, a significant philosophical school of thought in education that bridges materialism and idealism. It traces the origins of pragmatism to ancient Greece, emphasizing the importance of action, experience, and practical efficiency. The essay delves into the educational implications of pragmatism, highlighting its view of education as life, growth, a social process, a means for restructuring experience, and a state responsibility. It further explores different forms of pragmatism, including humanistic, experimental, nominalist, and biological pragmatism, and discusses key pragmatic principles such as pluralism, change, utilitarianism, individualism, and the emphasis on social aspects. The essay concludes by summarizing the core tenets of pragmatism and its profound influence on educational practices and societal development.

Running head: PRAGMATISM 1
Speech on Pragmatism
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Speech on Pragmatism
Pragmatism is one among the most essential philosophy schools in education. It stands
between materialism and idealism with its origin traced back to the sophist philosophers in
ancient Greece where humans were considered to be a measure of everything. The term means to
make, to do or to accomplish and thus makes use of such words as practice, activity or action.
Action supersedes thought. It uses the basis of experience to test everyone as it is viewed to lie at
core of the universe. Ideas and beliefs are true when they are profitable or workable; otherwise
they are false (Shusterman, 2016). Will Durant views pragmatism as a doctrine; that truth is an
idea’s practical efficiency. Thus it can be summarized as an experimentation method. In relation
to school practice, pragmatism is opposed to curriculums and pre-ordained or pre-determined
objectives.
Our first subtopic on pragmatism, involves the educational implication of pragmatism.
First of all, pragmatism views education as life, growth, social process, for experience
restructuring and a state’s responsibility. Concerning life, pragmatism has a firm belief that
traditional and old education is lifeless and dead. Education helps reconstruct, integrate and re-
organize the activities and experiences of race (Stuhr, 2015). Pragmatists wish to have the
worthwhile past culture conserved, think about solutions for new issues affecting people and
integrating the two. Actual knowledge is only gained through experiments, experiences of real
life and activity.
Secondly, pragmatism takes education as growth. Education is considered helpful if it
provides the development and growth of individuals and the society where they live in. children
are like bottles to be filled up with useful ideas and education serves to fill their minds with
developmental knowledge (Elkjaer, & Simpson, 2011). Children are born with inherent

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aptitudes, tendencies and capacities that are drawn and developed from education. The aims of
education involve developing these inherent capacities within children, to the fullest.
Thirdly, education has a social impact on people. Pragmatism considers people as social
beings. People gain more knowledge through what they experience in life than from the books.
Children’s education should be through the societal medium so that they develop in them the
qualities that are socially desirable for promoting their happiness and welfare. As John Dewey
put it that education serves as life’s social continuity (Hickman, Neubert, & Reich, 2009).
Fourthly, pragmatism also considers education to continuously restructure experience.
Education is a developmental process where people gain knowledge from experiments and
experiences they meet by themselves. The reconstruction of experience process goes on from one
exercise to another as the area of knowledge keeps widening in the children. This leads to
personality development and adjustment (Kitcher, 2012). Thus education is viewed as a field
without end, which restructures, integrates and reorganizes all racial activities.
Lastly, pragmatism views education to be a state’s responsibility. It forms the birth right
of all individuals. Since, it may not lie within an individual’s right the state shoulder’s this
responsibility. The failure to do so leads to national suffering. Thus, the state makes the children
confident and capable of meeting the challenges and problems of life.
Next, let me talk on the forms of pragmatism. The first form is humanistic pragmatism
which is particularly related to sciences. This argues that human nature has satisfaction based on
the utility criterion. In religion, science and philosophy, the aim of man involves thinking and
everything else is meant to achieve satisfaction (White, 2009). The second form is experimental
pragmatism which argues that modern science involves experimental methods. Any facts that
that involve experiments are true. However, truth has no end but is only known to the point

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where it is applicable in practice. Pragmatists apply this fact on truth in all fields of life and
belief that issues can only get solutions through experiments. Nominalist pragmatism has it that
when experiments are made, they attend to results. The aim involves examining material. Some
of the hypotheses related to results invariably precede all experiments (Shusterman 2016). In this
form of pragmatism, experimental results are always concrete and particular, not abstract or
general. Biological pragmatism is the final form in which John Dewey’s experimentalism is
based. It claims that the principle aim of knowledge is creating harmony between man and the
environment. In this case education provides social skills that facilitate human life, while the
school acts as a miniature society for preparing children for the life in future.
The last part of talk is on pragmatic principles. It is important to know that pragmatism
has six principles. Pluralism principle claims that philosophically pragmatists believe in the
plural of things. Reality, words are many like humans and everyone looks for the aim and truth
of life based on personal experiences. Pragmatism emphasizes on change since the world is in
constant flux and process due to its progressing and evolving nature. This makes all things to
keep changing. The utilitarianism principle believes that utility tests reality and truth (Goldkuhl,
2012). All useful principles are true and fulfill human purposes. Utility involves satisfaction to
the needs of humans. The principle on changing values and aims has it that the change happens
at different climes and times. Old values and aims are not acceptable and have to develop
through the world and human life. Individualism principle considers pragmatists as individualists
who maximize premium on human life and freedom. Liberty comes with fraternity and equality
and people adjust to this fact (Wilshire, 2010). The last principle is on emphasis of social
aspects. Men being social animals, they develop in social situations. Human success is societal
success and education serves to develop their social personality.

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To conclude let me sum up the key points on our topic. We have seen that the principles
of pragmatism are pluralism, change, changing values and aims, utilitarianism, individualism and
emphasis on social aspects. The forms of pragmatism include humanistic, experimental,
nominalist and biological forms. Pragmatism considers education to have wide implication on
the life of people. This involves source of knowledge for life, to help in growth, developing
social process, continuously restructuring experience and it being the state’s responsibility. The
term relates more to activity than thoughts.

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References
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Goldkuhl, G. (2012). Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems
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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;
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Shusterman, R. (2016). Practicing philosophy: Pragmatism and the philosophical life.
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White, M. (2009). A philosophy of culture: The scope of holistic pragmatism. Princeton
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Wilshire, B. (2010). Primal Roots of American Philosophy: Pragmatism, Phenomenology, and
Native American Thought. Penn State Press.