Abstract
Pragmatism adopts the procedure of assessing process by product, of evaluating ways of doing things on the basis of their functional efficacy in realizing the collective objectives. This can be done either directly by assessing the quality of the product, or obliquely by assessing the efficacy of procedures and methods in engendering high quality products. Methodological (as contrasted with Productive) Pragmatism adopts the latter approach. Its prime advantage is its greater reliability in providing for quality control thanks to the superior realism of the evaluations it underwrites.
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Notes
- 1.
For further detail regarding this position see the author’s Methodological Pragmatism (1977).
- 2.
The dramatic failure of the U. S. Department of Internal Revenue’s effort to computerize its operations is one particularly vivid example of this.
- 3.
On these issues see the author’s Complexity (1998).
- 4.
I am grateful to Professor Wenceslao J. Gonzalez for constructive suggestions in developing this discussion.
References
Aristotle (349 BC [1946]). Nichomachean ethics. In: W. D. Ross (Trans. & Ed.), New York: Oxford University Press.
Rescher, N. (1977). Methodological pragmatism. Oxford: Blackwell.
Rescher, N. (1998). Complexity. New Brunswick/London: Transaction Publishers.
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Rescher, N. (2020). Methodological Pragmatism. In: Gonzalez, W.J. (eds) Methodological Prospects for Scientific Research. Synthese Library, vol 430. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52500-2_4
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