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Pragmatic Ethics: Meaning, Nature, and Dynamics
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This learning resource discusses the meaning, nature, and dynamics of pragmatic ethics.
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Pragmatic Ethics: Meaning, Nature, and DynamicsPragmatic ethics is the result of the application of the principles of pragmatism to moral
issues. Pragmatism was founded by the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce
and was developed by the American philosophers William James and John Dewey.
Pragmatism is epistemological by nature but can be applied to ethics. As an
epistemological doctrine, pragmatism holds the belief that the true and meaningful
form of knowledge is one that is practical, workable, beneficial, and useful. Thus, in
pragmatism, if an idea works or brings good results, then it is true and meaningful. If it
does not, then that idea is meaningless, that is, it has no value.
According to the pragmatists, an idea is practical if it produces good results, workable if
it can be put to work, beneficial if it benefits people, and useful if it can be used to attain
good results.
How do we know that an idea is practical, workable, beneficial, and useful? In other
words, how do we know that an idea is true and meaningful?
According to William James, ideas are proven to be true and meaningful through the
process of experimentation. Hence, for James, ideas are value-neutral from the
beginning; their truth and meaning can be proven through testing or experimentation.
For example, how do we know that Coca Cola tastes good? Of course, according to
James, by tasting it. Or if someone claims that condoms are the most effective and
reliable contraceptive, then its truth and meaning can be proven by using and
comparing them with other contraceptives.
John Dewey, on the other hand, argues that ideas are proven to be true and meaningful
if they proved to be an effective instrument in attaining something. Thus, Dewey’s
model of pragmatism can be viewed as a form of instrumentalism.
Applying Pragmatism to Ethics
When applied to moral issues, a pragmatist may view the morality of a human act from
the vantage point of its practicality, workability, beneficiality, and usefulness. Hence, in
pragmatic ethics, an action is considered morally right if it is practical, workable,
beneficial, and useful; otherwise, it has no moral worth.
Let us take, for example, the moral issue of aborting a deformed fetus.
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