instrumentalism
[in-struh-men-tl-iz-uh m]
- 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.
Show More
Origin of instrumentalism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for instrumentalism
Historical Examples of instrumentalism
For instrumentalism, however, the alleged dilemma simply does not exist.
Essays in Experimental LogicJohn Dewey
On the contrary, instrumentalism is the only theory to which deduction is not a mystery.
Essays in Experimental LogicJohn Dewey
In the logic of Instrumentalism, truth has been identified with usefulness and the good with the satisfactory.
Creative IntelligenceJohn Dewey, Addison W. Moore, Harold Chapman Brown, George H. Mead, Boyd H. Bode, Henry Waldgrave, Stuart James, Hayden Tufts, Horace M. Kallen
But it differs widely from the instrumentalism of the Neo-Hegelian school both in its form and derivation.
John Dewey's logical theoryDelton Thomas Howard
Dewey's instrumentalism rests upon a very special psychological interpretation, which puts action first and thought second.
John Dewey's logical theoryDelton Thomas Howard
instrumentalism
- 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
Show More
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