Phi 105 Week 3 Checkpoint

PHI 105 Week 3 CheckPoint: Pragmatism and Analytic Philosophy

o Due Day 3 [Individual forum]

o Resource: Ch. 9 in Philosophy: The Power of Ideas

o Answer the following questions in a total of 200-300 words: How are pragmatism and analytic philosophy uniquely American movements? What ideas make them different from the way Europeans of the same period were thinking?

Pragmatism and analytic philosophy are uniquely American movements because vast difference from Greek philosophers. In pragmatism, there was a belief that there are fixed, absolute truths was rejected. Pragmatists believed that the truth was constantly changing as new ideas were introduced. Pragmatists also believed that ideas need to be researched by several people and agreed upon by the consensus prior to deeming the ideas true. In analytic philosophy, a complex idea is broken down into smaller concepts that are easier to understand. This technique helped difficult ideas or concepts much easier to understand for the average person.

European philosophers during the same time period took more of a common sense approach to philosophy. If an idea made sense to one philosopher then the idea was deemed true. For example, European philosophers believe in the existence of the Gods of Olympus. American analytical philosophers did not follow that belief. They believed that philosophically there was no reason to believe in the Gods of Olympus existence without solid data.

American and European philosophers had many different beliefs. It is possible that in American there was much more of a free, more adventurous spirit in the country and therefore introducing new ideas was more acceptable.