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instrumentalism

American  
[in-struh-men-tl-iz-uhm] / ˌɪn strəˈmɛn tlˌɪz əm /

noun

Philosophy.

  1. the variety of pragmatism developed by John Dewey, maintaining that the truth of an idea is determined by its success in the active solution of a problem and that the value of ideas is determined by their function in human experience.

instrumentalism British  
/ ˌɪnstrəˈmɛntəˌlɪzəm /

noun

  1. a system of pragmatic philosophy holding that ideas are instruments, that they should guide our actions and can change the world, and that their value consists not in their truth but in their success

  2. an antirealist philosophy of science that holds that theories are not true or false but are merely tools for deriving predictions from observational data

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of instrumentalism

First recorded in 1905–10; instrumental + -ism

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.