PHIL 2070 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: John Dewey, Pragmatism, Land Ethic
12 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
A school of philosophical thought: a philosophical tradition that began in the us in 1870. Sometimes called the american school of philosophy. Thoughts main function is not to describe, represent or mirror a deeper reality. If you were not a pragmatist, you might think that a person sees something and then thinks about a word that mirrors, represents or reflects the thing being observed i. e. a human observing a whale. Instead though is a product of interaction between organism & environment. Intelligent engagement with the world and in the world: thought is a tool. If it does something or has a function (cid:862)cohere(cid:374)tis(cid:373)(cid:863): truth = f (relationship between ones beliefs: a pragmatist would say that what we need to do is look at the cluster of beliefs that we have. The truth of any one of these beliefs is to the degree that it agrees with the or resembles the others. There is a connection between all of the beliefs.
