Pragmatism: The Most American Philosophy

Can Americans Do Philosophy?

Pragmatism is a word that gets thrown around a lot both in and outside of philosophy circles. But are we using the word correctly when we call our level-headed choices pragmatic? Is pragmatism incompatible with more “heady” schools of philosophy? Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition: WTF Is Pragmatism, Anyway?

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Written by Michael Burns
Researched by Michael Lodato
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Benji Dunaief
Produced by Olivia Redden

Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

#philosophy #pragmatism #wisecrack

© 2023 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

[SamGarcia]

Philosopher: "What is the meaning of life?"
American: "So anyway I started blasting"

[gelya]

As a kid I found my pragmatic qualities as my mature qualities, now I most cherish my whimsical qualities.

[ElNerdoLoco]

I do have a tattoo of Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a mountain, but with a cartoon smiley face superimposed over his head. Camus fans will get it.

[connorhillen]

I like John Cleese's talks on creativity where he discussed that we have to flip between "open modes" and "closed modes", very intentionally, to balance divergent creativity and pragmatism to both be adventurous and creative while also getting things done. It's pragmatic to spend time in whimsy.

[VeritabIlIti]

Thank you for bringing up Nietzsche in this. I'm reminded of a passage from "Birth of Tragedy, " addressing the interplay between the Apollonian and Dionysian: "Whatever exists is both just and unjust, and equally justified in both." When I read that work, it was in relation to a theatre course on the Dionysian, and this whole debate about truth is very similar to the nature of theatrical symbolism: a chair is a chair, but in the circumstances of a performance I may say that the chair is actually a throne, or a table, or a ladder, or any other thing, and the audience is disposed to believe me despite seeing that the chair is obviously a chair. We may impose meaning onto other objects, and even each other, given circumstances, in a way giving performers and audiences the power to suspend the physical reality in spirit of a collective dream.

[HeisenbergFam]

This man is truly multidimensional philosopher asking questions mankind desperately needs answers for

[deadcard]

I don't think I've actually stolen from my company by watching YouTube videos. Most of the time, i listen to the videos while I work. Anytime I spend either focusing on the video or typing comments still doesn't cancel the uncredited work I've done, nor what is effectively stolen from me due to wage stagnation.

[neozerox]

Being pragmatic has led to me avoiding alot of problems in my teens and my 20s.

[Jandrix_bb]

I would love to see phillosophy videos that explore political science (I.e. the phillosophy of soverenity and "rights" given/limited by state/nation)! Keep up the good work!

[silverswordstudios]

Whilst I'm glad you're looking at other philosophical disciplines outside of Europe for a change, I've noticed when you were predominantly Eurocentric that you tended to largely focus on the Continental philosophers. If you could include some Analytics and Empiricists in your videos, that would be appreciated as well. Great stuff, guys 👍

[dandrive]

For the mentor story I have had a few mentors. Many whom I disagree over small things but I am still close friends with. All but two, one is my dad who never saw me past a autistic person who is good at math. The other was my ex’s mom who helped me expand my horizons and gave me a lot of good tips on writing and publishing. We would debate philosophy and current issues in American culture. We had a falling out mainly because she did a lot of terrible things to me like faking a suicide attempt to guilt trip me into marrying her daughter and adopting her youngest when I was 18. So I interacted with her sparsely and only when my girlfriend at the time had family gatherings. The mail on the coffin was when she claimed that “everyone is a hypocrite so you shouldn’t care if you follow your principles.” Which I strongly detested to that. Only for her to then go on about how “Every man is evil and a Nazi and conservatives shouldn’t have access to archives or historical records to preserve world peace, and that I’m a terrible person because I don’t protest constantly and I deserved to have an addiction.” All because I mentioned I’ve never seen the movie Fight Club and some obscure movie that is twice my age. Anyway realized she’s fucking unhinged left that situation did a lot of therapy and got into Jungian Psychology to move past my trauma of her and other things of my past and here I am now.

[alexandremattos]

Use pragmatism in your life only when it's useful and be the ultimate pragmatist

[Nickdpoul]

About what you said in the last part, I think it has to do with the fact that these philosophers were benefiting from living inside the system, while they knew it was wrong. I think that this 'it can all be better within our current system and we don't really need to change something' vibe is at the end of the day the result of logical inconsistencies. About the fight of 'that's clearly wrong af' vs 'that is better for me' .

[esamullajee]

"The truth will set you free."

Pragmatists: "Well it depends..."

Existentialists: "You've always been free, grow a pair"

[deannal.newton]

I'm just happy to hear an actual concrete answer instead of those wishy washy ones like the Trolley Problem does or even the whole "Is the glass half full or half empty?" I would just ask what's the glass filled with because on the one hand it could be filled with water but on the other hand it could also be filled with vodka since both water and vodka look identical to each other. As for the Trolley Problem I would just run and scream at the workers warning them that the trolley is coming or if they're tied to the track I would just cut the ropes open from a sharp object I found on the ground so that no one has to die and everyone wins. The point is I mostly prefer the teachings of stoicism as well as pragmatism since they both focus on practical matters and both teachings want us to not take such importance on things outside of our control but rather look at what's right in front of us. I also find pleasure on disecting abstract concepts and questions, then if someone decides to throw a question at me I would then give them an absurd question just to show how absurd this conversation is.

[priscillagarcia]

Hahaha I laughed at the “tell me how much time you’ve stolen from your company by watching YouTube videos at work” The better question is how much time have THEY stolen from us while they exploit us for our labor 😂 watching videos at work is the least of my requirements

[enicot]

I keep a pragmatic mindset to sustain my positivity.
The down to earth truth is that life is good, we just make it messy by not taking care of ourselves or being douchy just because it's easy.

[gerardolozano]

A big part of my job is processing and documenting construction drawings and changes to those drawings, and the only way to keep me sane is having a YouTube video playing in my ears… long story short, I consume 50 hrs a week of YouTube while working 😂 6:56

[ObsidianWisdom]

Thank you for noting the Eurocentric lean for this channel.

I'd recommend looking into YT thinkers like F.D. Signifier, Tee Noir, Voice memos for the void, Foreign Man in a Foreign Land, Nine Nerd Yards, Philosynoir, Andrewism, and Khadija Mbowe

[joeldasilva]

When I saw the title of this video, my first thought was "John Rawls was a fantastic philosopher." It would be very cool if you guys did a video on his stuff. Since you guys are very continentally oriented, maybe you could approach his stuff through the Rawls-Habermas debate.