The idea of being ‘pragmatic’ is regularly spoken of in educational psychology practice. The everyday use of the term ‘pragmatic’ has been associated with Pragmatism as a world view. Pragmatism seems to have become associated with practicalism. It has been criticised as being separate from scientific thinking and truth and therefore as being uncritical and un-psychological. Pragmatists reject the distinction made in the traditional epistemological tradition between objective and subjective knowledge; mind and body; research and practice. Knowledge is not seen as truth existing in the mind; rather, knowledge is one with practical action. This article explores the ways in which Pragmatism has been compared to traditional epistemologies and how these comparisons may have contributed to misunderstandings of Pragmatism. It then considers the implications of an action-oriented approach to making decisions in practice and discusses how adopting a Pragmatist stance could affect our understanding of the nature and purpose of Educational Psychology in practice.
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