Epistemology

===Pragmatism===
{{Main|Pragmatism}}
[[Pragmatism]] is a fallibilist epistemology that emphasizes the role of action in knowing.<ref name="SEP pragmatism"/> Different interpretations of pragmatism variously emphasize: truth as the final outcome of ideal scientific inquiry and experimentation, truth as closely related to usefulness, experience as transacting with (instead of representing) nature, and human practices as the foundation of language.<ref name="SEP pragmatism"/> Pragmatism's origins are often attributed to [[Charles Sanders Peirce]], [[William James]], and [[John Dewey]].<ref name="SEP pragmatism"/> In 1878, Peirce formulated the maxim, "Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object."<ref name="Peirce"/>

William James suggested that through a pragmatist epistemology, theories "become instruments, not answers to enigmas in which we can rest".<ref name="James2000"/>{{Rp|28}} In James's pragmatic method, which he adapted from Peirce, metaphysical disputes can be settled by tracing the practical consequences of the different sides of the argument. If this process does not resolve the dispute, then "the dispute is idle".<ref name="James2000"/>{{Rp|25}}

Contemporary versions of pragmatism have been developed by thinkers such as [[Richard Rorty]] and [[Hilary Putnam]]. Rorty proposed that values were historically contingent and dependent upon their utility within a given historical period.<ref>Rorty, R. and Saatkamp, H. (n.d.). Rorty & Pragmatism. Nashville [u.a.]: Vanderbilt Univ. Press.</ref> Contemporary philosophers working in pragmatism are called [[neopragmatism|neopragmatists]], and also include [[Nicholas Rescher]], [[Robert Brandom]], [[Susan Haack]], and [[Cornel West]].
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