pragmatism and acceptance

Should you think about your duty, or about the consequences of your actions? Or should you concentrate on becoming a good person?

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Advocate
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pragmatism and acceptance

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Pragmatism is equivalent to capitulation. I'll use the word acceptance here to illustrate the difference.

The colloquial understanding of acceptance does not require capitulation, it is equivalent to accepting the reality of a situation. But nearly every dictionary definition, and nearly every actual use of the word includes some form of capitulation.

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the action of CONSENTing to receive or undertake something offered.

an AGREEing either expressly or by conduct to the act or offer of another so that a contract is concluded and the parties become legally bound
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Many disagreements include the variable of mistaking acceptance of the reality of something for an agreement that things are ok the way they are.

To be pragmatic is to work within the system while idealism is to work to change the system from without. Trying to change the system from within is futile because the system exists to perpetuate it's own existence. Only those in charge of it can pull the strings on any kind of direct way and they already are, which is why it's how it is.

So to be pragmatic in the sense of accepting the reality of the system in order to act is also to accept working within it. In what sense is this not capitulation? An idealist will ultimately reject that it's ok to be forced to work in a broken system to try to affect positive change.

The major failing of conservatism is in its pragmatic acceptance of the status quo. By failing to attempt to change the system, by accepting it and working within it, you inherently perpetuate it. Your capitulation puts pressure on others to capitulate and when the whole world believes in "go along to get along", you get a world run by the few who are not moral elites but economic parasites who just happen to be able to make everyone else see things their way by weight of seeing the standards by which everyone capitulates.

When using the word acceptance, consider indicating explicitly whether you agree about the facts or the implications for action.
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