Pragmatism
Within the philosophical discipline Pragmatism, one main idea is that thoughts are tools for action. It emphasizes that statements are true by the degree of which they are capable of real problem solving and predictions. One credo of this philosophic discipline is “learning by doing” – we learn and develop our capacities through our actions, by trial end error in different contexts. Knowledge thus consists of models that represent reality in a way that maximizes simple problem solving. No model will ever be able to represent reality with all its relevant information. Several, often contradicting, models will therefore be applied simultaneously in spite of involving paradoxes if taken together. The choice of a model is a function of the goal one wishes to reach or the problem one wishes to solve. The models that are applied to a problem will have to be experienced as subjectively relevant in order to produce solutions in a simple way. Alternative use of theoretical models will be without value in a pragmatic perspective and remove us from our reality instead of bringing us closer. |
