Influenţele pragmatismului american asupra filosofiei politice europene
The Influence of American Pragmatism on European Political Philosophy

Summary/Abstract: Pragmatism, the dominant philosophy in America at the beginning of the 20th century, was in the same time an intellectual movement that not only had an impact on the “academic” philosophy, but also influenced the spirit of law, education, politics, social theory, religion and even art students. It developed as both a movement that, in many ways, criticized traditional philosophy, and a cast of mind preoccupied with setting certain positive goals. From this point of view, it was the manner of thinking the best understood. The authors that contributed the most to forming and defining pragmatism – Charles Sander Peirce, William James and John Dewey – are some of America’s greatest philosophers. Did they become prestigious because of their pragmatism or, on the contrary, pragmatism became significant mainly because of their genius? It is a rhetorical question, born out of the desire to comprehend the meaning and the significance of their magnificent concepts. philosophic meditation and included the most famous personalities who gave to what is called the spirit of American philosophy its most profound expression. The golden era of American philosophy, the period of time when the most influential thinkers presented their theories, was unanimously set as beginning with the Civil War and ending around the ‘30s. This interval coincides with what is usually considered the time when the foundations of the American classical thought were laid. It marked the ripening of with the help of three dominant beliefs. Firstly, the belief that thought is, above all, a response to a particular situation, that it is destined to solve problems. Secondly, the belief that ideas and theories have to have “a sharp edge”, that they have to produce differentiations in life and in human behaviour. This implies two basic ideas: the first maintains that thought should’t focus on universal, general and “undated” problems, but on the specific difficulties that arise in actual places and times of life, and the second asserts that the power ideas have to change the course of events depends directly on the extent to which they can be acted upon and be used as directing human behavior. In close relation to this call for a focus on specific problems, there appears the belief that intellectual activity is justified when its results are actualised. An idea not only informs, it should, above all, incite to action. According to the American spirit, if an idea does not lead to action, it should better be ignored. Pragmatic philosophy has been much praised since it emerged. We can extract a few coordinates which also fit the American spirit itself.

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