Could the Occupy movement Become the Realization of Democratic Experimentalism’s Aspiration for Pragmatic Politics?

Critics of pragmatism sometimes complain that the pragmatist insistence only upon what “works” misunderstands that means can only be defined in terms of ends. Yet pragmatists do not deny the need for ends. In both ordinary life and in politics, pragmatism instead insists only that ends are provisional, subject to being revised through the exploration of means. The Occupy movement may be an illustration of pragmatist politics in action. Derided by its critics for lacking a substantive agenda, Occupy is best understood as a democracy movement that aims to substitute empowered citizen decision making for elite rule. Seen this way, Occupy could provide fertile ground for nurturing the institutions of democratic experimentalism.