Pragmatism is the view that experience is the basis of our knowledge and that beliefs and theories prove themselves insofar at they work and make sense of the world, so our knowledge is ongoing and developing.
Pragmatism is a philosophical approach rooted in the American thinkers William James, Charles Saunders Pierce, and John Dewey among others, and has more recently found champions in thinkers such as Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. Classic pragmatists insisted that theory must arise from practice, not abstract principles. This is why pragmatism, which is rooted in empirical experiences and practical consequences of ideas and actions, is frequently contrasted with idealism, which tends to discount material experiences and focus on immaterial ideas and ideals.
For the pragmatist, all of our knowledge is rooted in our coherent accounts of our experiences, and all of our beliefs are refinable and must be examined, and are liable to change as we progress in our.
