Origins
Pragmatism as a philosophical movement began in the United States in the 1870s. Its direction was determined by The Metaphysical Club members Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and Chauncey Wright, as well as John Dewey and George Herbert Mead.
The first use in print of the name pragmatism was in 1898 by James, who credited Peirce with coining the term during the early 1870s. James regarded Peirce's 1877–8 "Illustrations of the Logic of Science" series (including "The Fixation of Belief", 1877 and especially "How to Make Our Ideas Clear", 1878) as the foundation of pragmatism . Peirce in turn wrote in 1906 that Nicholas St. John Green had been instrumental by emphasizing the importance of applying Alexander Bain's definition of belief, which was "that upon which a man is prepared to act." Peirce wrote that "from this definition, pragmatism is scarce more than a corollary; so that I am disposed to think of him as the grandfather of pragmatism." John Shook has said, "Chauncey Wright also deserves considerable credit, for as both Peirce and James recall, it was Wright who demanded a phenomenalist and fallibilist empiricism as an alternative to rationalistic speculation."
Inspiration for the various pragmatists included:
- Francis Bacon who coined the saying ipsa scientia potestas est ("knowledge itself is power")
- David Hume for his naturalistic account of knowledge and action
- Thomas Reid, for his direct realism
- Immanuel Kant, for his idealism and from whom Peirce derives the name "pragmatism"
- G. W. F. Hegel who introduced temporality into philosophy (Pinkard in Misak 2007)
- J. S. Mill for his nominalism and empiricism
- George Berkeley for his project to eliminate all unclear concepts from philosophy (Peirce 8:33)
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