Pragmatism is a philosophy originating in the United States in the late 19th century that believes ideas and theories should be judged based on their practical consequences and real-world applications rather than on abstract principles. Key proponents included Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. Pragmatism emphasizes practical application over theory, believing that what works in practice is more important than absolute truth. In education, pragmatism focuses on learning by doing through experience and projects rather than rote memorization, with the teacher acting as a guide or facilitator rather than an authority.

2. Pragmatism
TOPIC NAME:

3. PRAGMATISM
The word pragmatism is derived from Greek word
“pragma” which means work, practice, action or activity.
Pragmatism is an American philosophy from the early 20 century.
According to this thought whatever is useful is good and whatever
is good is useful.
The philosophy that encourages people to find processes that work
in order to achieve their desired ends .

4. CONT.….
"Pragmatism" is believing in things that you know actually
work rather than things that might work, could, should, or
you're not sure of.
If we were to divide the world into the two types of people:
A. People who believe in Realistic, Down-to Earth, Clear
thinking and Practical answers.
B. People who believe in "Theory" and Abstract ideas and
concepts.

5. ORIGIN OF PRAGMATISM
Pragmatism began from the United States in the 1870s. Its origins
are often attributed to the philosophers Charles Sanders
Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. In 1878 Peirce described
it in his pragmatic maxim. Its origin can be traced from the Sophists
Philosophers of ancient Greece
who held that man is the measure
of all things.

6. .
PROPONENTS OF
PRAGMATISM

7. CHARLES SENDERS PEIRCE
(1839-1914 A.D)
• Charles Senders is an American Philosopher,
logician, mathematician and scientist. C.S,
who coined the term pragmatism saw it as more
techniques to help us find solutions than a
philosophy or solutions to problems.
• He is the ‘father’ of pragmatism.
• He believed that thought must produce action,
rather than linger in the mind and lead to
indecisiveness.

8. WILLIAM JAMES
(1842-1910)
William James is the most famous
philosopher of pragmatism and He is
the first educator to offer a psychology
course in the United States.
James was one of the leading thinkers
of the late nineteenth century and is
considered the father of American
philosophy. Pragmatism was about
value and morality; the purpose of
philosophy was to understand what
had value to us and why James argued
that ideas and beliefs have value to us.

9. JOHN DEWEY
(1859-1942)
o An American philosopher and educator who was a leading
exponent of philosophical pragmatism and rejected traditional
methods of teaching by rotein favor of a broad base system of
practical experience.
o John Dewey is the father of modern experimental education.
o John Dewey attempted to combine both peirce and James's
philosophies of pragmatism.
o An early proponents of progressive education maintained that
schools should reflect the life of the society. According to
Dewey;
"Education is not preparation for life; Education is life itself.”
J.Dewey (1859 )

10. Three forms of pragmatism are
as follows;
FORMS OF PRAGMATISM

12. There are four principles of pragmatisms
which are as follows;
PRINCIPLES OF PRAGMATISM

13. 1. Principles of utility:
Everything that students learn should have ‘utility’. This
means that everything should be useful to the student. A
student doesn’t care for learning abstract theoretical ideas
that they will never apply to their lives outside of school.
Instead, a student want to learn things that are relevant to
their lives. By making things relevant and useful, students
will be more engaged and eager to learn.

14. 2. Principle of Interest:
Curriculum content should also include the students’
interests. Dewey (a key pragmatist theorist) argues that
students have four interests: conversation, investigation,
construction and creative expression.
Therefore, teachers should focus on creating lessons that
involve talking with one another, investigating things
through experimentation, making things, and being
creative.

15. 3. Principle of Experience:
Pragmatists value experience over all else.
Students can learn abstract things all day, but
unless they experience those things, they may
never truly learn. Teachers should therefore
create a lot of project-based, experimental and
experiential lessons that help children ‘learn by
doing’.

16. 4. Principle of Integration:
Curriculum content is not separate. Mathematics, science
and creative arts are not three different lessons. Instead,
the pragmatic teacher links the curriculum content together
through a process we call ‘integration’. The teacher will
show students how concepts from different subjects are
related to each other and encourage a holistic
understanding of the topics they are learning.

17. Pragmatism in Education:
1. Education is based on philosophy and science.
2. It emphasizes experiment and practice.
3. It opposes book learning.
4. Only sociability is emphasized.
5. It is progressive dynamic and changeable ideology.
6. Child is the focal point of all educational activities.

18. Pragmatism has following aims of
education;
PRAGMATISM AND AIMS OF
EDUCATION

19. 1.Creation of new values:
Pragmatism has no fixed aims or goals of education.
According to Ross the general education aim of pragmatism is
“creation of new values.”
2. Activity and experience:
Activities and experience are essential to create new values.
Therefore the educational system aims at providing the learner,
physical, intellectual, moral and aesthetic activities.
3. Personal and social adjustment:
Pragmatism lays stress on an individual solving problems of
life.
4. Reconstruction of experience:
Pragmatism emphasizes adaptation to environment,
construction and reconstruction of experience and
development of capacities to control the environment.

20. 5. All round the development:
The most important aim of education is
“all round development”. An individual
must develop physically , mentally, social,
morally and aesthetically.

21. The principle of curriculum construction in
pragmatism are;
CURRICULUM IN PRAGMATISM

22. 1. Activity based Principle which says that curriculum should be activity based
where each student can do the activity and learn from his own perception.
2. Principle of utility that means the curriculum should be useful for future life.
3. Principle of child centeredness.
4. The principle of experience which means learning from senses and from own
perceptions.
5. Principal of flexibility which says that curriculum should not be rigid and fixed for
all time rather it should be flexible in accordance with the time and need of students.
6. According to pragmatism learning must be based on the child’s experiences as well
as occupations and activities. Besides school subjects, free purposive and socialized
activities should be in the curriculum.
7.The subjects included in pragmatic curriculum are- Language, Hygiene, History,
Geography, Physics, Mathematics, Science, Domestic science for Girls, Agriculture
for boys, Psychology Sociology.

23. METHODS OF TEACHING
Learn by activity.
Project Method.

24. METHODS OF TEACHING
Experimental Method Integration Method

25. ROLE OF TEACHER IN
PRAGMATISM
The role of teacher are as follows;
1. In pragmatism teacher is a friend, philosopher and
guide for students.
2. The teacher is not a dictator but only a leader of
a group.
3.Teacher should have knowledge of students interest
and provide them social environment.
4.The teacher should believe in democratic values.
5. The teacher should have knowledge of
social conditioning.

26. ADVANTAGES OF PRAGMATISM
1. Pragmatism introduced project method which indulges child in
various creative activities and also cater to his natural progress
and development.
2. It is basically a child centered teaching approach.
3. It emphasizes upon such type of activities which can be performed
by learning by doing method.
4. It emphasizes the practical life of child. So, pragmatic education
prepares the child for future life in a very effective manner.
5. It develops in the child the love for democratic values as well as
social efficiency which bring harmonious adjustment and
development of personality.
6. Pragmatism has revolutionized the process of education to very
great extent.

27. DISADVANTAGES OF PRAGMATISM
1. It opposes pre determined truth. That is why, according to it truth changes
according to aching in circumstance, time and place and is created by the
consequences of our actions and experiences.
2. Opposition of pre determined ideas and values. Therefore according to them
ideals and values are man made and changes according to change in
circumstances, time and place.
3. Indeed pragmatism denies the existence of spiritual values.
4. It opposes intellectualism. It believes that a man’s intelligence are subservient
to his innate tendencies. This only makes him an animal.
5. It emphasizes only the present and future.
6. Difficulty in the construction of curriculum, because selecting a project and
construction of curriculum to gain all knowledge from life experience is very
difficult.
7. Unlike other philosophical doctrine it does not lay down any aims, ideals and
values of life to be pursued by human being. Hence it can not be termed as
philosophy of life.

28. CONCLUSION
It is concluded that pragmatism is characteristics of current educational
thought and it is representative of progressive trends in education.
Progressive education emphasis on learning by doing, and involving the
child actively in the learning process. Pragmatism is an attitude and a
way of living. In pragmatism, the main focus is on action instead of
thought. It is not an ideas basically it is attitude. Pragmatic philosophy
is a practical philosophy having no fixed or absolute standards.
“Pragmatism is an intellectually safe but ultimate sterile
philosophy.”
( J. Robert Oppenheimer)

29. References:
https://www.slideshare.net/fLairfLing/pragmatism-79686157
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https://www.slideshare.net/juttdiam/pragmatism-philosophy-85590455
https://www.quora.com/What-is-pragmatism
https://www.slideshare.net/arshababu2018/pragmatism-120459444
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Forms-of-Pragmatism-in-research-
practice-Dimension-Focus-Beliefs_tbl1_276489509s
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pragmatism-education-177826057
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%20them%20social%20environment.
https://bluemington.com/pragmatism-education/

30. Any Question