What is Pragmatism? - Explained in Layman's Terms

[nickto21]

Hey All,
I'm taking a philosophy 101 course, and my teacher said that my viewpoints are highly pragmatic. I looked up pragmatism, and I found several explanations, but all the explanations were written in complicated,hard to comprehend language. Would someone tell me what a pragmatist is in layman's terms?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[mgb_phys]

Someone who believes experimental evidence rather than what hard to comprehend textbooks say.

 

[turbo]

If you believe that the outcomes of your actions can be studied and can lead you to a better understanding of a deeper truth, you may be a pragmatist. If you look at problems in terms of practicalities and the likely outcomes of your actions, you may be a pragmatist. A pragmatist is the kind of person who will say "Well in the best-case scenario, we could try this, BUT..." and then follow up with a suggestion for action that is based on the likely outcome of such action.

 

[minorwork]

Pragmatically speaking, Whatever works. Theory of operations you understand that are internally consistent and enable engineering and troubleshooting success. The following is on pragmatic electrical theories I presented to a skeptics group a coupla' weeks ago where the Electric Universe was pummeled.

At 56 years old I’ve worked around electricity all my life. High school I got a General Class Ham license Studied Physics in College. Got a Bachelors in Philosophy there. Maintenance man at a downtown office building. 30 years of 31 an electrician in the coal mine. I credit my father and mother for giving me the opportunity to progress in this area.

Electricity to me is a wonder. I wonder what it is. How it works.

Some say electricity is smoke. Let the smoke out, it quits working.

Some say electricity is like water. A lot of tutorials use this.

Electricity is the flow of electrons we are told. Our scientists tell us that no matter how sophisticated our instruments get we will never see an electron at a certain time. It is imagined.

Then there is The Greenie Theory. A near perfect scientific model. It works in every case, it’s easy to believe, and it’s impossible to disprove. Greenies are too small to see. They are imaginary. The little Greenie girls buy the kegs, and turn up the stereo. The Greenie guys live to party and a party means girls, beer and rock n’ roll. The Greenie guys hear the music and the “need to party” comes over them. The Greenie to English dictionary calls this “voltage.” Kenn Amdahl covers all the other electrical jargon and gives us an internally consistent theory we can use to manipulate the world around us by the use of imaginary things. His book is called: There Are No Electrons: Electronics For Earthlings

Ben Franklin said the “electric fluid” flowed from the glass rod ( excess electrons) to the amber. And so today in industry electrons are diagrammed as an imaginary fluid on schematics as flowing from the positive to the negative. This understanding is called the “conventional theory.”

Today electrons are understood to proceed from the negative to the positive. This model is called the “electron theory.” Industry has not changed from the conventional theory to the newer more accurate electron theory because the two are translatable and each is internally consistent. The schematic symbols are direction dependent, not symmetric and would have to be changed. The diode and transistor symbols especially. To change over would be like changing from the English to the metric system.

Which explains the data “best?” For me and you, does “best” mean easiest for us to understand? Does “best” mean predictability? Just what is best?

 

[JoeDawg]

Hey All,
I'm taking a philosophy 101 course, and my teacher said that my viewpoints are highly pragmatic. I looked up pragmatism, and I found several explanations, but all the explanations were written in complicated,hard to comprehend language. Would someone tell me what a pragmatist is in layman's terms?

Thanks,
Steve

This is what you call a can of worms... but... I guess you could say its a matter of being a 'results oriented', bottom line, type. Although that's quite an oversimplification on my part.