A Critical Study of Pragmatic Philosophy and it’s Impact on Religious Knowledge: William James as a Model

Fouad Saleh Al-Shahmani

Abstract
In this article we seek to shed light on pragmatic philosophy, which is one of the most important philosophies that appeared on the intellectual arena in Western society, especially in America. We wish to explain the most important premises on which this philosophy was based on in terms of trends and principles, and the extent of their influence on religious knowledge, then focusing on the methodology of the most prominent pioneer of this philosophy, William James. The method used in this article is a critical approach, aiming at criticizing the most important epistemic principles on which this philosophy was based, especially as it emphasized on the principle of pragmatic originality, in which the correct and honest idea is the one that gives practical results according to experimental foundations. It went to extreme limits in its adoption of the experimental method, which is based on the discovery of material phenomena and the benefits provided by these phenomena, and it tries to exclude the metaphysical, epistemic dimension from the arena of life, making the individual the center of everything and the measure of everything in life.

Key words: Pragmatism, Individualism, Humanism, experience, truth, will to believe.

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)