PEIRCE (1839-1914)
Charles Sanders Peirce was an American mathematician, logician and philosopher. He is known as one of the founders of the Pragmatism movement. He made important contributions to symbolic logic, especially working on the concept of sign. He also has works in the fields of philosophy of science and epistemology.
Pragma means work, action. Pragmatism is a movement that argues that the meaning of a thought will be determined by its practical consequences, and that the truth of the idea should be measured by its consequences.
Peirce divides logical inference methods into three. Abduction is the process of finding the most probable explanation, deduction is drawing certain conclusions, and induction is reaching general conclusions from special cases. Peirce thought about the nature, methodology and accuracy of science. The information revealed by science is in a constant process of questioning and testing.
According to Peirce, doubt is a social drive. The fixation of belief can be through stubbornness, authority, natural preferences (a priori), scientific method (reaching external permanent comfort). Doubt is the stimulus of investigation. The method of investigation is science, and its result is the determination of opinions. Believing is having certain habits, while truth is a belief that meets expectations and is not doubted in the long run. Reality is the properties that things have, independent of people. Familiarity, being able to express a definition, and being aware of the consequences of the concept are the three degrees of clarification of ideas.
Metaphysical expressions are meaningless nonsense defined in terms of each other. Things that have meaning are signs. A sign points to an object to the interpreter. There are three different types of interpreters of signs; emotional interpreters (a feeling responding to a sign), energetic interpreters (an action responding to a sign), and logical interpreters (like the meaning in a dictionary). As a result of interpretation, the final interpreter is a habit or disposition.
The arrangement of signs is called syntax, the meaning is called semantics, and the results and effects are called pragmatic signs. He divides signs into three categories: index-link (like smoke-fire), icon (visual sign, similarity), and symbol (symbolic sign). A photograph is an example of both an icon and an index link.
JAMES (1842-1910)
William James was an American philosopher and psychologist. In his work Pragmatism: A New Belief, he relates the truth of thoughts to their practical consequences. Concepts such as rational experience and freedom of will are also central to James's philosophy. He is known for his work in the field of psychology, especially his studies on the concepts of flow and consciousness. He develops the Functionalism Theory as a psychological theory that emphasizes mental processes and behaviors within the process of adaptation of the organism to its environment, and where the influences of Darwin's theory of evolution are also seen. In his work Religious Experiences, he makes in-depth examinations of the personal meaning and impact of individuals' religious experiences.
DEWEY (1859-1952)
John Dewey was an American psychologist, educational reformer and philosopher.
His approach, which states that the different concepts and methods we use to achieve our goals and solve our problems are tools, is called instrumentalism. He is one of the important representatives of pragmatism.
According to Dewey, who saw Darwin's theory of evolution as an intellectual revolution, instead of pursuing absolute origins or absolute goals, new philosophy should reach a method that will find solutions to the concrete problems we encounter in this world. Dewey thinks that this change in method, like evolution, will not happen all at once.
Dewey thinks that all kinds of intellectual investigations are ultimately based on a kind of problem-solving activity, and that as a result, we carry ourselves to a simpler, more definite, clearer and problem-free point. The closest thing to what is good is what the scientific community agrees is desirable and good. We are not passive observers of this world, but beings who interact with it. Looking for certainties and values independent of these interactions is completely contrary to the spirit of pragmatism. The sharp distinction between the knower and the known is wrong, and in this respect both empiricist and rationalist philosophies are problematic. It is also against representation-based epistemological understandings that say we have no possibility of directly encountering the objective.