Pragmatism, existentialism and analytic philosophy

Philosophy · Modern philosophy. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Pragmatism began in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Peirce said the meaning of a concept lies in its practical effects. James applied this to truth: an idea is true if it works in experience. Dewey called ideas tools for solving problems (instrumentalism).

Existentialism starts from the individual who must choose. Kierkegaard stressed the personal leap of faith, Nietzsche the creation of new values after the 'death of God', and Sartre the freedom of a being with no fixed nature.

Analytic philosophy turns to logic and language. Russell analysed the logical form of sentences. Wittgenstein studied the limits of language. The logical positivists accepted only statements that are true by definition or testable by experience.

Rules to remember

Peirce's pragmatic maxim: the meaning of a concept is the sum of the practical effects we conceive it to have; no difference in practice means no difference in meaning.
James, 'Pragmatism' (1907): truth is what works. Dewey: instrumentalism, learning by doing, 'Democracy and Education' (1916).
Kierkegaard (1813 to 1855), Danish, called the father of existentialism: three stages of life, the aesthetic, the ethical and the religious; faith is a leap.
Nietzsche (1844 to 1900): 'God is dead', the will to power, the Übermensch who creates his own values.
Sartre, 'Being and Nothingness' (1943): existence precedes essence; bad faith is self-deception that denies one's freedom.
Logical positivism (Vienna Circle, 1920s; Ayer's 'Language, Truth and Logic', 1936): the verification principle.
Russell: logical atomism and the theory of descriptions. Wittgenstein: picture theory in the 'Tractatus' (1921); meaning as use and language games in the 'Philosophical Investigations' (1953).

Common mistake

Students often take 'truth is what works' to mean 'true is whatever pleases me'. James meant that an idea must work in the long run and fit the rest of our experience, and candidates also mix up the early and the later Wittgenstein.

Worked example

A philosopher says: 'The statement "The Absolute is beyond time" is neither true nor false; it is without meaning.' Which school is speaking, and on what ground?

The speaker does not call the statement false; he denies that it has any meaning, so the test in use is a test of meaning.
The statement is not true by definition, like 'all bachelors are unmarried'.
No observation could count for or against it, so it cannot be verified by experience.
A statement that fails both tests is meaningless by the verification principle.

Answer: Logical positivism: the statement fails the verification principle, so it is treated as meaningless metaphysics.

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