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SRando_functionalism and pragmatism
by - (2008-09-24)
Up to Finding out about Functionalism and Pragmatism in W. James
Pragmatism comes from the greek word "pragma" which means "action". It is a philosophical current that focuses on what has a practical reply in the reality. The meaning of a specific event is made of the practical effects that an event brings with, once it is submitted to the practical action. Pragmatism is similar to empirism, the philosophy which asserts that knowledge comes from experience.
Ex: I go to school in order to learn.
Functionalism studies how the mental processes work in the reality. The functionalists think that the function (the aim) is more important than the structure (the cause) of a thing.
Ex: Why are we supposed to know how an eye works, if we don't know why we see?