Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - Zsolt Virágos: Some Observations on Myth and Practical' Pragmatism in American Culture

whatever. What can be especially disconcerting is the fact that "practical" pragmatism can be interpreted as offering a carte blanche for any kind of wild or erratic belief and it can thus create a loose terrain of responsibility. If truth is a matter of convenience, logic, even the logic of moral reservations, can be thrown overboard. The epistemology of pragmatism, or at least the popular understanding of the pragmatist theory of truth, thus certaily encouraged strategies of validation which could not merely reinforce myth-making urges but, by elevating man to the position of truth-maker, tended to virtually coincide with myth itself in the sense that pragmatism could eminently satisfy our earlier functional definition of myth: justification for whatever reason. 145