ABSTRACT
Pragmatism holds scientific doctrines involving theoretical terms to be significant, hence expressive of scientific beliefs, though not formulable in thoroughly observational language. Instrumentalism, on the other hand, may be readily put in such a way as to uphold the thesis of empiricism since, if intuitive clarity is taken to require observationality, instrumentalism simply denies to all non-observational doctrines the status of belief-vehicles. Beyond the limits of intuitive clarity, the instrumentalist is glad to admit the functional utility of theoretical machinery, though withholding the attribution of 'significance' and associated terms. The opposition between pragmatism and instrumentalism thus seems to lack important substance, and it is perhaps not surprising that the two positions are frequently confused, and that writers occasionally vacillate between them. Both pragmatism and instrumentalism are committed to searching for an answer to the problem of function; but beyond that, there is no difference in program, but only an alternative set of terminological decisions.
