Pragmatism and Neopragmatism’s Impact on American Politics: A Brief Overview of Their Historical Progression and Fundamental Principles

Abstract

Pragmatism, an American philosophy that gained enormous fame in the late 19th century, influenced several aspects of American life. Classical pragmatists, namely Charles Sanders Pierce, William James, and John Dewey, discussed various topics in their writings. After pragmatism lost its influence, there were some attempts by neopragmatists to revive it, especially by Richard Rorty. The problem lies in the widespread disregard and misunderstanding of pragmatism. Some classical pragmatists, as well as neopragmatists, explicitly and implicitly discussed politics. Despite the enormous research on pragmatism, there is little literature concerning the relationship between pragmatism as a philosophy and politics. This paper aims to provide a brief history of the philosophy of pragmatism and its influence on American politics. We use a combination of quantitative, qualitative, analytical, and exploratory methods to uncover the influence of pragmatism as a philosophy on American politics. The study found that pragmatism influenced and perhaps still influences American politics, such as liberalism, to a large extent. We encourage further research on this topic.