Pragmatism and Antinomianism
THEORIES THUS BECOME INSTRUMENTS, NOT ANSWERS TO ENIGMAS, IN WHICH WE CAN REST. We don't lie back upon them, we move forward, and, on occasion, make nature over again by their aid. Pragmatism unstiffens all our theories, limbers them up and sets each one at work. Being nothing essentially new, it harmonizes with many ancient philosophic tendencies. It agrees with nominalism for instance, in always appealing to particulars; with utilitarianism in emphasizing practical aspects; with positivism in its disdain for verbal solutions, useless questions, and metaphysical abstractions.
All these, you see, are ANTI-INTELLECTUALIST tendencies. Against rationalism as a pretension and a method, pragmatism is fully armed and militant. But, at the outset, at least, it stands for no particular results. It has no dogmas, and no doctrines save its method. As the young Italian pragmatist Papini has well said, it lies in the midst of our theories, like a corridor in a hotel. Innumerable chambers open out of it. In one you may find a man writing an atheistic volume; in the next someone on his knees praying for faith and strength; in a third a chemist investigating a body's properties. In a fourth a system of idealistic metaphysics is being excogitated; in a fifth the impossibility of metaphysics is being shown. But they all own the corridor, and all must pass through it if they want a practicable way of getting into or out of their respective rooms.
(DeepL)
Thus theory becomes not the answer to a mystery, but an instrument on which we rest. We move forward without turning our backs on theory, sometimes remaking nature with the help of theory. Pragmatism unravels all our theories, tightens them, and makes each theory work. Pragmatism is not essentially new, but is in harmony with many old philosophical tendencies. For example, it agrees with nominalism in its constant appeal to particulars, with utilitarianism in its emphasis on practical aspects, with positivism in its disdain for verbal solutions, futile questions, and metaphysical abstractions The two are in agreement with utilitarianism in their emphasis on the practical side of things. So this is not to say that pragmatism is anti-intellectualism, but that materialism, utilitarianism, and positivism are all opposed to rationalism
But, at least initially, pragmatism does not seek a particular result. Pragmatism has no dogma, no doctrine other than its method. As the young Italian pragmatist Papini used to say, pragmatism lies in our theory like a hotel corridor. From there, countless rooms open up. In one room there may be someone writing an atheistic book, in the next someone on his knees praying for faith and strength. In the fourth, a system of idealistic metaphysics is expounded, and in the fifth, the impossibility of metaphysics. But they all possess corridors, and all must pass through them if they seek a practical way to enter and leave their respective rooms.
Each room is inaccessible to each other, but the hallway leads to all of them.
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels.
(DeepL)In metaphysics, nominalism is the idea that universals and abstractions are merely names or labels and do not actually exist. ---
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