The why and the how: Evandro Agazzi on the limits of pragmatic reductionism

Fernando Hurtado-Chaurand, Institute for Philosophical Research, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico

Background: Evandro Agazzi notes the paradoxical role that science plays in contemporary culture: it dominates our daily lives through technological innovation yet fails to inform our deeper intellectual frameworks. This is because, according to Agazzi, the explanatory dimension has been subordinated to instrumental value under what he calls a pragmatic conception of science. Objectives: This paper examines the critique of the pragmatist reduction of inquiry to questions of “how?” (practical utility) at the expense of the “why?” (explanatory understanding). Methods: This study was through textual analysis and conceptual comparison with Jamesean pragmatism. Results: The paper shows that Agazzi’s realist framework recognizes explanation as irreducible to practical utility. Conclusion: This philosophical distinction has relevant implications for addressing contemporary challenges, particularly in bioethics, where pragmatic reductionism leaves us with powerful technological capabilities but impoverished frameworks for evaluating their proper use.

Keywords: Philosophy of science. Epistemology. Instrumentalism.