The American philosophy that tests ideas by their fruits: a belief is true insofar as it works, and its meaning is the difference it makes in practice.
Pragmatism was born in the 1870s in the conversation of Charles Peirce and William James and grew, with John Dewey, into America's characteristic philosophy. It turns from essences to consequences: ask what a claim does, in inquiry and in life, and you have asked what it means. Dewey carried the method into education and democracy, and later thinkers such as Richard Rorty revived it as an argument against philosophy's search for foundations.
Sources
Primary
- William James, Pragmatism (1907).
Secondary
- Louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club (2001).
How this compares to Christianity
How does this branch relate to the historic Christian faith?
This assessment has not yet been reviewed. Every verdict below stands at Not yet reviewed until the named theological reviewers supply it.
- Does it consider itself Christian?
- Not yet reviewed
- Did it arise from the Christian tradition?
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- Does it affirm the ecumenical creeds?
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- Is it recognized as Christian by the historic bodies?
- the Catholic Church: Not yet reviewed
- the Eastern Orthodox Church: Not yet reviewed
- the Oriental Orthodox churches: Not yet reviewed
- conciliar Protestant bodies: Not yet reviewed
- the WCC / National Council of Churches: Not yet reviewed
- This site's assessment
- Not yet reviewed
- Reviewer
- Not yet reviewed. The theological reviewers are named on the criteria page when they are appointed.
The comparative record for this entity, its points of convergence and divergence across the ten loci, has not yet been populated. It stands in the assessment queue on the criteria page.
What this assessment cannot settle
This assessment determines what this entity teaches and how that teaching relates to the historic Christian creeds. It does not determine whether any person is saved, whether God accepts their worship, whether they are sincere, or whether the criteria applied here are correct.
This assessment is made from the standpoint described in our editorial statement and our criteria page. It reports classifications; it does not rank sincerity, spiritual standing, or the eternal state of any person.