instrumentalism
the variety of pragmatism developed by John Dewey, maintaining that the truth of an idea is determined by its success in the active solution of a problem and that the value of ideas is determined by their function in human experience.
Origin of instrumentalism
1Words Nearby instrumentalism
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How to use instrumentalism in a sentence
In the logical version of pragmatism termed instrumentalism, action or practice does indeed play a fundamental rle.
Essays in Experimental Logic | John DeweyIs instrumentalism only283 philistinism called by a more descriptive name?
Creative Intelligence | John Dewey, Addison W. Moore, Harold Chapman Brown, George H. Mead, Boyd H. Bode, Henry Waldgrave, Stuart James, Hayden Tufts, Horace M. KallenThis explains why this conception was labeled instrumentalism or pragmatics of verification.
The Civilization of Illiteracy | Mihai NadinFor instrumentalism, however, the alleged dilemma simply does not exist.
Essays in Experimental Logic | John DeweyOn the contrary, instrumentalism is the only theory to which deduction is not a mystery.
Essays in Experimental Logic | John Dewey
British Dictionary definitions for instrumentalism
/ (ˌɪnstrəˈmɛntəˌlɪzəm) /
a system of pragmatic philosophy holding that ideas are instruments, that they should guide our actions and can change the world, and that their value consists not in their truth but in their success
an antirealist philosophy of science that holds that theories are not true or false but are merely tools for deriving predictions from observational data
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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