Pragmatism: metaphysics is meaningful

only if it has practical consequences

What we mean by reality

is the product of our
ideas and ideals, all of
which are creative
William James solutions to practical John Dewey
(1859-1952)
(1842-1910) problems
 Logical Positivism:
Metaphysics is Meaningless
• Statements are meaningful only if they are A. J. Ayer
(1910-89)
analytic (tautologies, true/false by definition)
or empirical (based on experience)
– Objection: this principle is neither, so it is meaningless
• Because metaphysical, aesthetic, theological and
ethical statements are neither tautologies nor
statements of fact, they are meaningless (or express
only a feeling or emotion, not some truth)
– Objection: we really don’t believe this
 Anti-realism: objects in the world depend
on how they are described or perceived

• Postmodernism: the features of reality depend on

language. Different (e.g., feminine) languages or
ways of thinking identify different realities
– Objection 1: this makes all realities (even sexist
ones) equally valid and not open to critique
– Objection 2: our descriptions of reality might
vary, but not reality itself: otherwise, we could
not talk about the “same” thing