CHAPTER 9

• Not all tools from the ethical toolbox may be useful all the time, but they are ready for use when needed
• Pragmatism


  • An ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily
  • The meaning of a proposition is found in its practical consequences
  • Unpractical ideas have to be rejected
• Ethics has provided numerous ethical principles and theories as tools for moral situations
• Pragmatism became a popular movement in the early 1900s
• Charles Sanders Pierce was considered to be the father of pragmatism
• Chapter content

  1. Define what pragmatism is

  2. Differentiate pragmatism from rationalism and empiricism

  3. Describe what a pragmatic experience is based on the students' moral situations

  4. Explain the ethical and moral implications of pragmatism

  5. Apply pragmatism towards arriving at a moral decision

  6. Make sound moral judgments based on the principles, facts, and teachings of pragmatism

  7. Develop a certain kind of moral stand as to the tenability of pragmatism as an ethical theory

  8. Internalize the pragmatic method in their decisions and actions in the society where they belong

  9. Create situations that would best highlight the pragmatic ethical perspective
• Pragmatism is an American philosophical discipline developed in the late 1800s by Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey
• Ethics can be likened to a toolbox with varied tools for different purposes
• Humans are tasked not only to understand but to live a moral life associated with a good and happy existence
• Moral education is needed to understand different ethical principles and standards
• Morality refers to the quality of human acts which could be distinguished as either moral, immoral, or amoral
• Peirce's biography is presented to provide background on the concept of pragmatism
• Charles Sanders Peirce defined the principle of the pragmatic movement
• An act that is more in accord with reason is judged to be true and good
• Pragmatism focuses on the practical consequences of propositions
• Instinct and Reason are discussed as the Two Aspects of Human Action in pragmatism
• Peirce's Three Universal Categories are considered in pragmatism
• Pragmatism claims that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily
• Pragmatism is applied to concrete moral issues such as abortion and divorce
• Pragmatism rejects unpractical ideas
• Ethics is described as the philosophical understanding of the morality of human actions
• Charles Sanders Peirce was born on September 10, 1839 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Charles Sanders Peirce was the second of five children
• Charles Sanders Peirce was an American scientist, logician, and philosopher
• Pragmatism is beset with difficulties which the pragmatists themselves honestly acknowledged
• Charles Sanders Peirce lived in a farm with Juliette for the last 26 years of his life
• Discussions of themes

  Envisioned to provide readers with necessary understanding of pragmatism as an ethical theory and its relevance to concrete moral issues such as abortion and divorce
• Charles Sanders Peirce had no children from either marriage
• Application of pragmatism and its challenges


  Presented in the later part of this chapter
• Charles Sanders Peirce was employed by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1879 to 1884
• Charles Sanders Peirce was twice married, first to Harriet Melusina in 1862 and second to Juliette Pourtalai in 1883
• Charles Sanders Peirce was aided by friends like William James
• Peirce's view on the meaning of an act


  Based on the value that it produces
• Pragmatism was intended to counter the pervading approach of knowing in the modern era which was solidly stacked on rationalism and empiricism
• Charles Sanders Peirce died

  April 19, 1914
• Pragmatic method


  Primarily a method of settling metaphysical disputes
• Charles Sanders Peirce taught logic in the Department of Mathematics at John Hopkins University
• Pragmatism


  Derived from the Greek word "pragma" meaning action; introduced by Peirce into philosophy as America's most distinctive and major contribution to the world of philosophy
• Two Aspects of Human Action and Peirce's Three Universal Categories

  Considered
• Charles Sanders Peirce lived his last years in serious illness and poverty