Pragmatism Philosophy

1. Pragmatism
Presentation by:
Dr. Mohd. Muzahir Ali
Al- Falah University
Faridabad

2. Introduction
• The term pragmatism is derived from the Greek
word ‘pragma’ which means action from which
words like ‘practice’ and ‘practical’ have been
derived. Charles Peirce introduced this word into
philosophy. It suggests an emphasis upon the
practicalities of life and that the practicable is the
real.

3. What is Pragmatism ?
• William James in his book ‘Pragmatism’ described it
thus: “The pragmatic method is primarily a method of
solving metaphysical disputes which are unending.” For
example, there are a number of problems in philosophy
for which there are controversial solutions. ‘Is the world
one or many’, ‘fated or free’, ‘material or spiritual’ are
only a few illustrations. Pragmatism offers to solve these
problems by suggesting that one must trace the practical
consequences of either of the solutions. “A pragmatist
turns his back resolutely and once for all upon a lot of
inveterate habits dear to professional philosophers. He
turns away from abstraction and insufficiency. From
verbal solutions, from bad a priori reason, from fixed
principles closed systems, and pretended absolutes and
origins. He turns towards concreteness and adequacy,
toward facts, towards action and towards power.

4. Representatives of Pragmatism
• The roots of pragmatism can be traced back to
ancient Greek philosophy. Heraclitus and the
Sophists of ancient Greece are considered to be
pragmatic in their approach to life. There ware
other contemporaries such as Protagoras and
Georgias. In the sixteenth century Francis Bacon
(1561-1626) preferred and advocated the
empirical approach to the rational approach
which is the basis of pragmatic method. In
recent times, Charles S. Pierce, William James,
John Deway, W. H. Kilpatrick, J. L. Childs and
Ratner, are the representative writers in the field.

5. Pragmatism in Education
• “A Government resting upon popular suffrage cannot be
successful unless those who elect and obey their
governors are educated.”
• The child is creative and constructive by nature. He is
not a passive listener but an active participant in the
educative process.
• This child is social being. Unlike the previous conception
of education as a bipolar process, the child and the
educative process being the two poles, pragmatists think
of it as a tri-polar process, the immediate society being
the third pole. The child needs to be familiarized with the
lite-customs, traditions, folkways, mores, norms, values
and behavior-patterns of the society, or , rather
socialized.

6. Pragmatism and the curriculum
• Pragmatists neither approve of a rigid, traditional pattern
of curriculum wherein there would be water-tight
compartmentalization of knowledge into different
subjects nor do they support a laissez-faire policy in
curriculum organization. They believe in a certain degree
of organization of the curriculum, to quote Dewey: “ the
child and the curriculum are simply two limits which
define a single process.” pragmatists prefer to give
integrated knowledge around particular and significant
problems of life rather than divide knowledge into various
subjects of instruction. Scholl studies should be
integrated as their counterparts in the world are
integrated. Life and experience of the pupil should be
integrated with activities of the school.

7. Pragmatism and methods of
Teaching
• The focus of pragmatic methods of teaching is on the ‘child-in-
society’ and his activities therein rather then the book, the teacher,
the subject or exclusively the child –of –nature learning always
occurs as a result of movement and activity. The method of teaching
should be experimental.
• Dewey feels that methods of teaching should develop reflective
thinking in children. They must ask the ‘way’? Of things and not
merely the ‘how?” of things. Method cannot be conceived in isolation
from matter. Therefore, method should vary as matter varies.
• To speak of the actual methods employed in classrooms.
Pragmatists lean on creative and constructive projects. Project is a
purposive activity rooted in real life, as W. H. Kilpatrick has defined
it: ”a project is a whole-hearted purposeful activity proceeding in a
social environment.” only purposeful activity proceeding in a social
environment.” As J. A. Stevenson has defined it: “ An educational
project is a problematic act carried to its completion in its natural
setting.”
» Cont. …

8. Cont..
• There are four stages in the project method. They are
purposing, planning, executing and evaluating.
• Pragmatism also encourages discussion as a method of
learning. Discussion is a form of group-thinking and is a
method of learning in the community. It also encourages
laboratory work, personal reference in the library,
educational tours and excursions.

9. Pragmatism and the School
• A school need not imply a number of classrooms
wherein benches are systematically arranged in parallel
rows on which pupils have to sit and listen continuously
to he expositions or teachers one after the other on
different subjects throughout the day. Even a workshop
and a laboratory can be a school for them. In fact, any
social environment which inspires the children for
experimentation constitutes as Scholl for them.
• Pragmatists would like to give a lot of freedom to
children. The teacher, in the capacity of adviser and
guide, and the pursuit of the self-activity of the child
should together promote self-discipline.

10. Pragmatism and the Teacher
• The teacher is not a dictator but only ‘a
leader of group activities’. He should not
overshadow the personality of the pupil.
He has to plan and organize the teaching-
learning situation, provide learning
experiences and opportunities for
experimentation. He must not impose
himself on children. The teacher should
treat the pupils as his own equals in
regard to social life.

11. Conclusion
• The significant contribution of pragmatism
to educational practices is that it has been
able to infuse realism into it, keeps. The
children close to their experience and
exhorts the educational system to
capitalize upon that. The ‘project method’
of learning and the associated values of
democratic beliefs and actions is the
single most important contribution of
pragmatism to educational practice.