Charles Peirce is the American who first identified pragmatism. Pragmatism as a philosophical movement began in the 1870s in U.S.A. Its direction was determined by The metaphysical Club members.

The first use in print of the name pragmatism was in 1898 by James, who credited Peirce with coining the term during the early 1870s. James regarded Peirce’s 1877–8 “Illustrations of the Logic of Science” series as the foundation of pragmatism.

Peirce in turn wrote that Nicholas St. John Green had been instrumental by emphasizing the importance of applying the definition of belief as “that upon which a man is prepared to act” by Alexander Bain.

Peirce wrote that “from this definition, pragmatism is scarce more than a corollary; so that I am disposed to think of him as the grandfather of pragmatism.”

Inspiration for the various pragmatists included: Francis Bacon, David Hume, Thomas Reid, Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel and H. S. Mills

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice.Pragmatism enjoyed renewed attention after a revised pragmatism was used to criticize Logical positivism in the 1960s.

Another brand of pragmatism, neo-pragmatism gained influence in the late 20th-century.

Contemporary pragmatism may be broadly divided into a strict analytic tradition and “neo-classical” pragmatism. The word pragmatism derives from the Greek word pragma meaning “deed, act”