Pragmatism’s influences on American lifestyle

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The article clarifies the conception of American way of life, influences of pragmatism on it and some of its manifestations, thereby showing two-sided effects on the development of the United States as a basis for applying and acquiring their values, as well as overcoming their limitations in our country nowadays.

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HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Social Sciences, 2020, Volume 64, Issue 4D, pp. 54-61 This paper is available online at http://stdb.hnue.edu.vn PRAGMATISM’S INFLUENCES ON AMERICAN LIFESTYLE Nguyen Van Thoa Faculty of Philosophy, Hanoi National Universtiy of Education Abstract. Pragmatism, originated in United States has met their people’s needs on practical results. Pragmatism is a mode of thought in action, in which action is a key means and the actual effect is its purposes. Pragmatism has become the “spiritual specialty” of American people, having a profound impact on the American way of life characterized by pragmatism, promoting individualism, concentrating on efficiency, utility and consumer lifestyle. The article clarifies the conception of American way of life, influences of pragmatism on it and some of its manifestations, thereby showing two-sided effects on the development of the United States as a basis for applying and acquiring their values, as well as overcoming their limitations in our country nowadays. Keywords: pragmatism, American lifestyle, pragmatic lifestyle. 1. Introduction Originated from the specific socio-economic condition of the nation, Americans have always been restlessly making efforts in “reaching forward”. What they need is not abstract philosophy but an instrumental reasoning system, a method of thinking that helps them effectively give actions, to prove their own position; therefore, to meet that demand, a brand new philosophical movement was born, named pragmatism. Pragmatism also made a repercussion impact on social life and acted as one of the factors that clearly affect American lifestyle. This lifestyle is typical for its pragmatics, focusing on productivity and materialism, a consumer lifestyle, worshipping individualism and individual freedom. It has had a great influence on the United States’ development in history and at present. However, this impact must be seen as two-sided, both good and bad. There are several well-known scholars studying about American pragmatism in Vietnam, namely Bui Dang Duy, Do Minh Hop, Nguyen Tien Dung, Bui Thi Tinh, Trinh Son Hoan, etc. However, the majority of studies mainly focused on the contents of pragmatism without mentioning the relationship between the philosophy and lifestyle. It can be said that in Vietnam up to now, there has not been any systematic study on the effect of pragmatism on the American lifestyle. Based on inherited research results, I would systematically clarify the influences of pragmatism on the American lifestyle. The research would become a lesson in acquiring and inheriting pragmatism’ values, as well as American lifestyle, also, help us recognize and limit the drawbacks that this lifestyle shows in Vietnam nowadays. Received April 11, 2020. Revised April 24, 2020. Accepted May 15, 2020. Contact Nguyen Van Thoa, e-mail address: thoanv@hnue.edu.vn 54
Pragmatism’s influences on American lifestyle 2. Content 2.1. Conception of American lifestyle The United States is often referred to as the “American dream”, which represents the dream of seeking equality and freedom to achieve success in a new land. It is equality of opportunity, here it means opportunity to make properties and change life. Abraham Lincoln stated that, “We hope that the most normal person would have an opportunity of equality like any others, as to grow rich… a society of freedom must be a place where that person knows he can improve his own living” [1, p. 63]. This was shown clearly in Martin Luther King’s article, titled “I have a dream”: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true” [1, pp.68-69]. The idea of freedom and equality became the content to shape the nature of American lifestyle. American lifestyle, as a “common belief” of American society, has coexisted for centuries with other beliefs of the nation, both influence each other in a wide, sophisticated and complex way. Originally, American lifestyle was formed by the Protestant traits that immigrants brought to the country to realize the American dream. Their imagination of a “promised land” in the wilderness of the New World has become a profound sense, Americans’ hope for the new and unique of everything on the land of Western Hemisphere; created American beliefs in its own actions to conquer new lands. The pragmatism also contributed to the pragmatic belief that already existed in Protestantism, affecting American lifestyle. On the other hand, the American lifestyle also contributes to shaping and restoring the religious beliefs of immigrants to the United States. It can be said that once coming to the US, the long-standing religions tend to be “Americanized” under the profound influence of American material lifestyle and historical conditions. In addition to the osmosis and impact of religion and spiritual factors on the American lifestyle, we also see the impact of social historical conditions and material lifestyle in the United States. The total force of that influence, in which secular religion, religious beliefs became pragmatic belief, has had a strong impact on forming the American lifestyle. Americans believe in religion in a more different way than any other nation: in which it carries a pragmatic belief, an American dream - a dream of those who aspire to change and become successful. Pragmatism contributed to the interpretation of American beliefs and lifestyle. That created a fit between Religion - Pragmatism and the American lifestyle. There also exists truth within religion because truth brings “good things” to individuals and communities. Every class has its lifestyle, according to its views and any philosophical trend has its ideal basis for a certain lifestyle. Pragmatism is no exception; it was born during the new development and ambition of American expansion. Pragmatism manifests the ideology of the bourgeoisie; in particular, it associates its philosophy with a lifestyle known as the “pragmatic lifestyle” or the American lifestyle. Therefore, considering pragmatism we need to look into the expressions of American lifestyle. Lifestyle does not only include each person's way of living such as eating, dressing, staying, entertaining, etc. but, in philosophical sense, is the whole way of living of each individual, in order to satisfy their unique needs and personality development. Lifestyle is defined by physical conditions of the society and the expressions are not the same between each person. American lifestyle is not easy to define, especially about American culture, which is described as follows, “Americans do not like generalizing about American lifestyle. Being atypical or unwilling to become typical is part of American” [1, p.50]. That does not mean we 55
Nguyen Van Thoa could not figure out the core nature of this lifestyle, as it is shown in the thought of freedom and democracy in an American sense. Politically, it is institutionalized, with the highest being the Constitution; economically, it is manifested in “free trade”; socially, as liberalism and equality, and it is not only appropriate but actually leads to strong economic competition and high flexibility. Mentally, it is perceived to reflect the American identity. It is a pragmatic belief, where religious symbols become the symbol of faith that every American worship and practice. American lifestyle is typical for its individualism, pragmatism and activeness. It affirms the ultimate value and dignity of individual freedom; it emphasizes the relentless activeness to assert the role of each individual, because the individual himself never stops, and always strives to “go forward”; it defines a moral standard of independence, talent and personality, and judges by success or failure: “action, no belief” is what it is based on, in this way, efficiency, usefulness, success are truth: “The declared principles of the United States promote the efforts of each individual to create a better life... American society allows personal freedom to a high level, in every attempt to fulfill that promise” [2, pp.41-42]. American lifestyle is target- oriented, “forward-looking”, and optimistic. Americans also show their generosity and kindness since they are willing to respond to sorrows that occurs anywhere in the world. Americans believe in progress, in self-improvement, and particularly, believe in the power of education to bring about change and positive values. Because they are idealistic, they tend to confuse between approving an ideal and implementing that. Therefore, they easily consider themselves as good as their ideals and uphold their individual qualities.At the same time, they make a clear distinction between right and wrong: they tend to consider issues simply and frankly, crystal clear and treat them as moral issues.It can be seen that the core of American lifestyle is the promotion of personal freedom, equality, pragmatism, practicality, dynamic, progressiveness, consumer lifestyle and focusing on material values. These factors have affected every aspect of the American social life. 2.2. The influence of pragmatism on the American lifestyle Before the birth of pragmatic philosophy, the United States was considered a country with little interest in philosophy. We all understand the philosophy that Americans were less concerned about is the metaphysical, abstract philosophy coming from Europe, which is also the home of most immigrants to the United States. A. Tocqueville, a researcher considered to understand America better than themselves, gave us a true insight into American philosophy: “In my opinion, there is no country in the civilized world that we are less preoccupied with philosophy than the United States. Americans do not have a particular school of philosophy and they are less interested in the schools of philosophy that are divided in Europe; they know the schools by name and it is hard enough” [3, p.567]. The American way of thinking comes from specific events in order to find effective ways of action. Therefore, they turned away from the dogmas of speculative philosophy. Tocqueville was right about American philosophy: “Beyond the systemic spirit, from the yoke of habit, family maxims, class views, and to some extent, free from nationalist prejudices; traditions treated as information and happening events as a useful way to look different and act better; exploring self-reliance and only seeking the cause of things within themselves, aiming results without being bound by the means but the root of the problem shown at its outward appearance” [3, p. 567]. Pragmatic philosophy, born in the United States in the late nineteenth century created relevance not only for American way of thinking, but also in accordance with the characteristics of its nation, people, culture and characteristics. It meets Americans’ requirements – who are self-made and independent people, in which efficiency and success in action plays the core part: “If there is any kind of philosophy in the world that closely keeps up with pulses of the era, firstly, it is necessary to mention the philosophy of pragmatism of the United States, which was 56
Pragmatism’s influences on American lifestyle born in the call of the American era, together with the development of American society, becoming the philosophy of American life” [4, p. 69]. C. Peirce was the philosopher laying the foundation of American pragmatic philosophy. This school of philosophy expresses the resistance to the rational, epistemological, abstract truth originated from Europe which is no more practical, useful to most Americans. They are known to have left their homeland, sailing across the Atlantic to start a career on this new continent, to find changes and desire to succeed. Thus, it is not surprising that they are realistic, and act based on reality. The ideas of C.Peirce's pragmatic philosophy have somewhat met the needs of Americans. Concreting C.Peirce's mind, W.James asserted that useful ideas were acknowledged, otherwise, they would be replaced. Useful ideas should be truth. It is a famous definition about “truth” in pragmatic philosophy. This definition is suitable not only for American culture but only for their personalities who dislike conservation and dogmatism. Having left Europe where rationalism with massive theories, in order to find a new and promising land aiming to build a bright future. It is understood that everyone has the same opportunity and desire to change, so what they can do is only to move forward, live by their pragmatic faith with extraordinary energy, with all their abilities and efforts. To become successful, besides perseverance, optimism, progressiveness, and courage people must also be adaptive, creative, flexible due to practical circumstances and situations. The ultimate target is efficiency, benefits and success in action. Pragmatic philosophers have defined human’s cognitive task is to reform the world. Being conscious is to achieve practical efficiency and success for humans. Consciousness must, therefore, become a tool for improving reality, as to bring the efficiency, benefits and success - which is the standard of truth. Here, we see a similarity between Marxist - Leninist philosophy and pragmatic philosophy. Marxist - Leninist philosophy sees reality as the goal of consciousness, and J.Dewey sees perception as a task and a tool to improve reality. Consciousness must be considered as tools, just like other physical objects that affect and improve the world. The cognitive tool expressed through the spirit and mind of the human being has great potentials and effects in reforming the world, once it effectively improves the reality, that tool is truth. This point of view is worth acknowledging, especially in the current knowledge economy when the value of a product does not lie mostly and magnificently in materials, fuels, but knowledge and human intellect. Thus, it is no exaggeration to say that pragmatic philosophy has been deeply rooted in American social life and people. It has become an action tool to help people achieve efficiency, benefits and success, thereby promoting social development. Therefore, pragmatic philosophy has had an impact on every aspect of American society and people. The promotion of practice and the importance of effectiveness have made the vitality of pragmatic philosophy: “It is not strange that this theory was born in America - the land of pragmatism, where the criterion of all values is success” [2, p.237]. Here we could see a coincidence how the truth is defined in both this philosophy and the American mindset, while Americans are people who always appreciate reality and efficiency. In their mind, truth is identified with efficiency, benefits and success. In other words, the formation of pragmatic philosophy is a reflection of American thinking, culture, lifestyle. It would be hard to clarify which existed first, but what we can be sure of is that mentioning America, pragmatism should be called out and vice versa. In this nation, the standard of truth consists of efficiency, benefits, satisfaction and success in the activity of improving human’s living reality. Since the 70s - 80s of the twentieth century when Americanization in the West happened, even now, this movement is taking place more and more deeply in the world. It would be hard to deny the great influence the US had on the world in 57
Nguyen Van Thoa every aspect, including cultural and lifestyle influence to Western countries in particular and countries around the world in general. These causes and great influences can be found from the positive effects of American pragmatic philosophy to the formation and development of their own social, cultural and lifestyle. As a philosophical movement, pragmatism was born out of American socio-economic conditions, however, being a form of social consciousness, pragmatism, in turn, has an impact on American social life. American pragmatism exists as not only a theoretical system but also comes into life, forming the so-called “American pragmatic lifestyle”. That lifestyle is defined by material conditions, production methods, social existence and is manifested in personal life. American lifestyle is a reflection of the material living conditions in American capitalist society. Although born later, but in the nineteenth century, the US possessed a mechanized, modernized industry which is highly developed far beyond many countries, including those which developed earlier than the US. That physical strength located America in general and the American bourgeoisie in particular an important position, leading the system of capitalist countries. This achievement greatly influenced the mindset of the American bourgeoisie and thinkers. It is their optimistic thinking that science and technology have brought them the most powerful development in the world. That thought also has a profound impact on the American lifestyle. According to them, nothing else but science and technical factors are the only means to achieve the goal of efficiency, success and wealth. This technical element is the basis for them to build trust in life. At that time, technical worshipping was even becoming a tendency in American society. It had a new name, “technocratic society”; in other words, technology plays a huge role, dominating the entire social life. Pursuing efficiency and interests, pragmatism stated that technology has an absolute power, as a means for people to achieve their effectivity goals. Thought of technology as dominance does not only apply in economic life but also thoroughly controls all aspects of social life such as politics, ideological culture... It has come to life and become the lifestyle of the whole society. With a pragmatic spirit, American society is open in political institution that values and receives all the ideas and doctrines making American society develop and prosper. With such an open political position, the United States encourages a spirit of democracy and freedom. In particular, the American bourgeoisie highly praised democracy and considered it a condition for human beings to attain true freedom. They themselves also identify as “a world of freedom”. Yet, freedom in American society is merely freedom for the minority, for the rich or the bourgeoisie. Responding to democracy and freedom, pragmatists also strongly encouraged and explained democracy in a pragmatic spirit. Democracy must be attached with the cult of material power. J.Dewey once stated that democracy was a belief in the capacity of human experience to set goals and methods, so that the experience develops and becomes nurtured. Being pragmatic, considering effectiveness and benefits for people is what needs to be concerned; therefore, when the bourgeoisie applies technocracy in social life, they think that changes in society today are controlled by technology and not by humans. Therefore, the existence of the bourgeoisie and capitalism would also be indispensable and that dominant social role, of course does not belong to anyone else but technicians. Promoting the role of technocracy, effectiveness means right, good and truthful. This caused a certain cult in American social life. Due to the cult of technology and the physical conditions it brings, a common lifestyle in the US and many capitalist countries is now existent, named “consumer lifestyle”. Consumer lifestyle is not only a trend, a lifestyle but it actually is a consequence of the capitalist economy. To gain economic profits, the bourgeoisie strives to promote the application 58
Pragmatism’s influences on American lifestyle of science and technology in their production in order to bring about high labor productivity. However, due to workers’ low income, they can not afford to consume goods made by themselves. Capitalist production brings about a massive volume of products, fulfilling the consumers’ needs. But its consequence is the surplus of goods, leading to crisis, recession, production stagnation for the economy. To address this situation, the bourgeoisie has created a new lifestyle to satisfy the increasing demand in society to use up surplus goods created by manufacturing. By advertising, they stimulate consumption and treat it as an indispensable need in human activities. They state that consumption is as indispensable as production, a task of every citizen so that the society can maintain its pace of development. To achieve the purpose of stimulating demand for consumers, the bourgeoisie has set many sale methods such as selling on credit, installment payment on wages, etc. making workers accidentally dependent on the capitalist. From a psychological perspective, this is the capitalist's mission to reduce their distance from the worker, to make them believe that in terms of consumption there is no difference between the employer and the worker; so, workers may be assured of that condition and enjoy a “full of comfort” life. The main purpose of the bourgeoisie must still be the consumption of goods in society: “The consumer society can only develop thanks to more and more excessive consumption, meaning waste” [2, p.422]. In short, with the purpose of promoting practical efficiency, pragmatism has jointly adjusted the concept and lifestyle in American society. Since the twentieth century, pragmatism has become popular in the US, to the point that all society is mostly about efficiency. For Americans, what is the most important is the actual performance standards and action results. For them, what really matters is not the “right” or “what we should believe” but “what we believe that works best for us”. Pragmatic belief is highly appreciated, because when there is faith, people have goals, methods of action in order to achieve efficiency and success. According to Americans, it is not necessarily proved that “God is existent or not” but the issue must be the effectiveness of that belief, i.e., answering the question of what meaning and role it plays in people’s life. Therefore, people’s goals should be towards the future perspective, which means they aim for efficiency and success. What they are interested in is not the objective ethical standards but the problem is to seek the benefits and success. Pragmatism does not only influence consumer lifestyles, the adjustment of American conceptions and goals, but it also affects American education. Education is built on the basis of the theory of pragmatism, in particular the opinion of J.Dewey. Education should be practically oriented, disregarding book theory but focusing on practical improvement. The goal is “the responsibility of a citizen” and “social and emotional development of children”. Pragmatism builds an applicable educational philosophy, trains a new generation realizing the ambition to make America more and more powerful. The progressive education, in their opinion, focuses on the issue of beliefs and the need to teach people about beliefs. That method is carried through work, labor and also actual activities. In order to educate through work and labor, according to them, going to school in a traditional way is not necessary, but life can also be the best school without theories or books; or only with books teaching skills of working, living, doing business and being housewives, etc. providing practical knowledge directly serving life, teaching people how to succeed, without heavily focusing on abstract theories. Its good thing is making realistic people, reforming the reality, becoming ambitious in order to succeed. However, pragmatism somewhat disregards the reasoning, which will lead to the consequence of a superficial education of people, overly materialism, lack of humanity in people’s hearts, even negatively affecting the majority of the society. Besides education, consumer lifestyle and pragmatism also influence American spiritual life, including literary writing. Adapting the consumption lifestyle, market-like social needs and 59
Nguyen Van Thoa the need for information are main reasons and there existed new kind of novels, namely documentary novels, a new category in literary life; detective novel, referring to events that meet the information needs of readers. In cinematography, the US quickly became a leading country in the world both in number of films and artistic quality. The formation and development of Hollywood cinema has become a symbol of the United States and is able to conquer and attract the whole world. Even during the US economic downturn, Hollywood still retained the leading brand position in the field of entertainment. In the field of artistic creation, people are free to show their own creativity in their works of art: “The true attraction of the total high quality and pure values, i.e. individualism and humanitarian, freedom of movement, upward movement, the pursuit of happiness (mental or physical) and challenging acception, the strong will to prove the individual, etc. All of them jointly helped maintaining the position” [1, p.81]. American spiritual and cultural life may outwardly look so nurtured, however, that actual nourishment is reflected in modern techniques creating a “technical culture”, “electronic culture”, expressed by a shell that seemed so flashy. All different aspects of American life with such consumer lifestyles are just for the purpose of giving people a physical consumption mentality and the enjoyment of spiritual life, social services. Therefore, culture does not only serve life, but it also becomes a means when one wants to achieve a certain purpose. Pragmatic spirit is expressed in the way of human life, that is, people only appreciate efficiency and practical experience, dislike dogmatic reasoning, prefer practicality. That is how the real “Americans” are. Americans set criteria of efficiency, what is beneficial or not. This is also the main idea in American pragmatic philosophy. Accordingly, each person has the right to pursue their interests in action. Therefore, if necessary, they are willing to leave the inherent principles, revise the old ones, remove stereotypes and old ways of thinking to adopt new perspectives and customs rather than stick to traditions or unchanging truths. As President Bill Clinton stated, “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America” [1, p.8]. In the 30s of the twentieth century, to save the United States from the great economic crisis, President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented the New Deal, which allowed the state to intervene in economic activities, do social welfare to improve the lives of the poor - which is contrary to the tradition of American business freedom, actually to solve the crisis, thereby promoting production and consumption. By the 1980s, when the welfare policies enabled a lazy, parasitic class, President Ronald Reagan again launched a policy of reducing welfare and reducing taxes to promote economic growth, control monetary issues and inflation. President Bill Clinton also succeeded in renovating the social welfare system to narrow down the beneficiaries, minimize the lazy mindset in the society. President Donal Trump also issued policies on immigration, with the two main points being to encourage highly skilled immigration and tighten family reintegration, in order to reduce the burden on the United States, thereby promoting development. It can be said that policies in the United States are always adjusted to achieve efficiency, facilitate conditions and environment for socio-economic development. 3. Conclusions In short, pragmatism has encouraged Americans to pursue efficiency and material values. Pragmatism has contributed to form the American lifestyle imbued with individualism and pragmatism; formed the love for labor, acceptance of challenges, and always going ahead in American people. Simultaneously with these values, pragmatism also creates a consumer habit, a consumer lifestyle. Those influences are double-sided, reflecting the true nature of pragmatic 60
Pragmatism’s influences on American lifestyle theory. On the positive side, it is clearly seen that the influence of American lifestyle on the development of the US, which explains that the strong development of the US is not granted but is an achievement of a whole process and effort to work towards efficiency and success, reflected in a very “American” lifestyle. On the other hand, in the very development of the US, the American lifestyle also showed some negative aspects such as overly worshipping individualism, consumer lifestyle with focus on materialism, inequality, discrimination, as well as other consequences created by this lifestyle during their development. Understanding this duality helps us better understand the nature of American society and people, which is the basis to immerse the values and limit the negative aspects during the process of international integration, which is becoming more and more widespread in Vietnam today. REFERENCES [1] Luong Van Ke, 2011. North American culture in context of globalization. Vietnam Education Publishing house. [2] Huu Ngoc, 1995. The profile of American culture. The World Publishers. [3] Tocqueville A.D., 2008. Democracy in America (Translated by Pham Toan). Knowledge Publishers, Hanoi. [4] Vuong Ngoc Binh, 2004. William James. Thuan Hoa publishing house, Hue. [5] Luu Phong Dong, 2004. Towards the 21st century: Modern Western philosophy. Political Theoretical Publishing House, Hanoi. [6] Bui Đang Duy & Nguyễn Tiến Dũng, 2006. American Philosophy. Hochiminh City General Publishing house. [7] Trinh Son Hoan, 2011. America and the birth of American characteristics. Philosophy Journal (238/3), p.82-88. [8] Đo Minh Hop, 2014. History of Western philosophy, book 3. The National Political Publishing House. [9] Nguyen Van Thoa, 2013. John Dewey’s Conception of Truth. HNUE Journal of Sciences, Vol, 58, Nr. 6B, pp. 121-128. [10] Nguyen Van Thoa, 2014. Williams James’s Conception of Truth. HNUE Journal of Sciences, Vol. 59, Nr. 6BC, pp. 72-78. [11] Bui Thi Tinh, 2011. Pragmatism and its influence to our society nowadays. The Magazine of Political Theory, no. 9, p. 82-87. 61