Does Pragmatism Lead to Pluralism?

Abstract

As its most basic mission, pragmatism sets out to determine an idea’s merit by examining its practical consequences, rather than through purely abstract evaluation. As a result of this emphasis on an idea’s effectiveness, the complex ways in which pragmatists conceive of abstract notions such as truth and self-concept are often overlooked. Close examination of the works of two pragmatist thinkers, William James and Jerome Bruner, reveals a crucial debate regarding pragmatism’s goal. The gap between the pragmatisms of James and Bruner can best be exposed by looking at their attitudes toward pluralism. For Bruner, pluralism is the goal of pragmatism from the outset of inquiry; in this model, pragmatism is used to mediate between multiple sets of beliefs. For James, however, a pragmatist must be open-minded, in that pragmatism is committed to examining all new ideas, but the goal of inquiry is to support one belief rather than many. The relationship of pluralism to pragmatism has crucial implications for the way in which the two thinkers conceive of the human capacity for self-knowledge.