Brain
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Joined: 2/14/2007
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I don't consider myself conservative or liberal and I don't like to be constrained by ideology. I like doing whatever works. They call it being pragmatic so instead of conservatism or liberalism, for me it's pragmatism = moderate. And when I say do whatever works I mean works for everybody - not just the rich. None of the ideologies works all the time in every situation. For instance, Republicans are obsessed with tax cuts and the private sector as a solution to every problem.
If you're pragmatic you’re moderate. If Nixon can go to China then it's okay for anyone to be pragmatic or a moderate.
Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected. Pragmatism, in William James' eyes, was that the truth of an idea needed to be tested to prove its validity. Pragmatism began in the late nineteenth century with Charles Sanders Peirce and his pragmatic maxim. Through the early twentieth-century it was developed further in the works of William James, John Dewey and—in a more unorthodox manner—by George Santayana. Other important aspects of pragmatism include anti-Cartesianism, radical empiricism, instrumentalism, anti-realism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, a denial of the fact-value distinction, a high regard for science, and fallibilism.
Inspiration for the pragmatists were:
Francis Bacon who coined the phrase "knowledge is power",
David Hume for his naturalistic account of knowledge and action,
Thomas Reid, for his direct realism,
Immanuel Kant, for his idealism and from whom Peirce derives the name "pragmatism",
Georg Hegel who introduced temporality into philosophy (Pinkard in Misak 2007), and
J.S. Mill for his nominalism and empiricism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism
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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery
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ORIGINAL: Sanity
I'm center-right, just like most of the rest of the U.S.
After post after post of Conservative views, Sanity has converted to middle America.
Please welcome him, and fill him in on the reigning moderate views.
In all seriousness---how do you characterize moderate views? What are these?
Let's get a list and a discussion going.
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RE: Please welcome Sanity to the Center! - 
Profile
.. and one that is very tiresome indeed 
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