Pragmatism

n. philosophical movement based on using practical consequences as the primary basis for evaluation; practicality, quality of being practical

Pragmatism is a philosophic school that originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Sanders Peirce, who first stated the pragmatic maxim. It came to fruition in the early twentieth-century philosophies of William James and John Dewey. Most of the thinkers who describe themselves as pragmatists consider practical consequences or real effects to be vital components of both meaning and truth. Other important aspects of pragmatism include anti-Cartesianism, radical empiricism, instrumentalism, anti-realism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, a denial of the fact-value distinction, a high regard for science and evolution, and fallibilism.
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Noun
1. (philosophy) the doctrine that practical consequences are the criteria of knowledge and meaning and value
(hypernym) philosophical doctrine, philosophical theory
(classification) philosophy
2. the attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth
(synonym) realism
(hypernym) practicality

(n.)
The quality or state of being pragmatic; in literature, the pragmatic, or philosophical, method.
  

filoz. pragmatism