Pragmatism and Rationalism Flashcards
What is the pragmatic method?
a method for deciding whether or not to believe something
Who originally coined the term “pragmatism”?
Kant
What was Kant’s belief about pragmatism?
Kant originally coined the term “pragmatism”, but he thought deciding on beliefs pragmatically was one of several possible ways of coming to more or less valid beliefs.
- thought there were a lot of ways of arriving at the truth but sometimes he thought that there was no way to be absolutely certain that you were right and in those circumstances, you need to think pragmatically
What was William James’ great innovation with respect to pragmatism?
William James’s great innovation was to assert that this is the only path to truth.
What is the essence of James’ approach to pragmatism?
The essence of this approach is that there are assumed to be no infallible criteria for determining the truth or falsity of a proposition or a set of propositions.
In the absence of such criteria, the pragmatic criterion is this: Is believing this good for the individual and for other people in the social world?
– James’ original claim was that logic, reasoning and evidence are always inadequate at establishing the truth and that you always have to decide what you believe by using the pragmatic method – you must ask less “grand” questions – instead, ask is it useful (personally and socially) to believe it – we use beliefs to guide our actions so will this belief guide me to good actions or not
We can never know truth so we have to find practical truths
What are the four steps to pragmatism as set out by the text?
Step 1: Decide whether it is worth making a decision. The pragmatic method is hard and time consuming, and it is not worth applying it to every decision. (e.g., “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” is not worth making a decision on – trivial issue – this step is subjective to the individual)
Step 2: Determine which outcome (of believing versus not believing) has better consequences, both for the individual and for others. (e.g., James had periods of terrible depression – he could not find evidence for the existence of God but decided to believe in God because it was beneficial for him psychologically)
Step 3: Determine whether and how the new belief or set of beliefs fits with the individual’s existing beliefs. (Does not always belief that the new beliefs have to mesh with old beliefs – they might provide a time to question old beliefs and change systems of belief)
Step 4: Act on the new belief. (whatever that means – if it does not lead to actions of any sort then it probably wasn’t worth deciding on in Step 1)
Are pragmatism and rationalism similar to each other?
No - Rationalism and pragmatism are close to being opposites, so please do not conflate them.
What was the social environment like for Plato?
Plato lived in an era of unrest. Athens, Greece about 4 centuries BC
Athens, after a period of expansion that had resulted in a fair degree of affluence for the upper classes, had had some reverses in Plato’s time.
They were losing a war with Sparta and had gone through a period of tyrannies supported by Sparta.
Traditional religious beliefs were being called into question. Many people were pretty cynical.
Who was exploiting the cynicism during Plato’s time period? What were they called? What was their platform?
This cynicism was being exploited by the Sophists, teachers of rhetoric who preached a moral nihilism coupled with the use of rhetorical skills to manipulate other people.
Cynicism about community and honest living was on the rise – Sophists used this to promote ideology of public speaking (rhetoric) to promote one’s own interests (manipulation, lying, tricking) – there is no fundamental truth so you must craft it for other people to make them do what you want
What was Plato’s book called? What form was it written in? What was it primarily about?
The Republic
Written in the form of a play - as a conversation, an all-night bull session in which the participants debate the nature of justice.
Who was the hero of Plato’s book The Republic? Why did Plato use him, in particular, as the main character?
The hero of this conversation is Socrates, Plato’s teacher.
Because we have no independent source of information on Socrates’s ideas, we do not know how many of the points he makes in the conversation were really made by him and how many are being placed in his mouth by Plato.
-Used Socrates as the speaker as plausible deniability (could have been putting these thoughts into his mouth) - Socrates never actually wrote anything down
What claim does Socrates reject in The Republic? What is his reasoning?
Socrates vigorously rejects the sophist claim that justice means nothing more than following social convention.
Social convention is sometimes evil, so it cannot be the basis of justice.
Socrates also argues that justice leads to happiness and injustice leads to unhappiness.
What is the conversational method used by Plato in his book called?
Dialectic method (conversational)
Plato asserts that the human psyche has three major components - what are they?
reason, spirit, and appetite
How does Plato illustrate the relationships among the three components of the human psyche? How does he classify each of the three components in this illustration?
To illustrate the relationships among these components, Plato attempts to model the psyche by comparing it to the ideal society, which has three social classes.
Rulers are people whose reason is highly developed.
They determine what the society will do.
They are not allowed to own material goods.
Auxiliaries are people whose spirit is highly developed.
They work as administrators, police, soldiers, etc. and ensure that the directives of the rulers are carried out.
Workers are people whose appetite is best developed.
They do various forms of manual labour; these are the porters, the artisans, the farmers, etc.
