What is Strategic Pragmatism?
We coined this concept in 1989 when writing our book “Strategic Pragmatism: Japanese Lessons in Economic Theory” In terms of philosophy of science we are indebted to Karl Popper’s critical rationalism, which approaches any problem solving with the insight of human cognition being fallible. From this insight follows the necessity of seeking solutions to problems with what we call “strategic pragmatism”. The pragmatism we advocate is a philosophy developed by Charles Pierce and John Dewey, which considers theory to be in the service of practice and not the other way around. This philosophy eschews dogmatism. It reflects the awareness that all human knowledge is always just temporary. It demands readiness to act across the cleavages of dogmatic dissension, but also to correct and adjust one’s own action as soon as dysfunctions are recognizable. A distinctive mark of Strategic Pragmatism is its focus on echeloned time horizons for what can be achieved short term with immediate impact based
