Pragmatism as a Normative Theory of Social Value and Economic Ethics

Abstract

Pragmatism may be defined as that philosophy which holds that all reality has practical consequences and that, therefore, certainly the best way and perhaps the only way to know and to understand true reality is through the consideration of practical consequences. It is commonly supposed by those scholars who misunderstand and misinterpret pragmatism that this philosophy is based on cultural relativism and is, therefore, completely devoid of all normative and ethical content (Lutz 1985, p. 169). It is the purpose of this essay to advocate vociferously and to support vigorously the contrary view that normative and ethical considerations inhere in pragmatism and that a valid and reliable normative theory of social value and economic ethics can be induced from the pragmatic philosophy.