Pragmatism and Lysoled Cake

I hate pragmatism, and just about hit the ceiling whenever someone says they do something 'because it works'. Pragmatism, Machiavellianism, call it what you will, it doesn't work. The reason it doesn't work is simple, humans as a race do not have enough knowledge to predict with any kind of accuracy the totality of the future. When we are assessing how we will achieve a goal we have to evaluate three different areas. First, what is the goal we want, then what is the best way to get there, and what will be the fallout from getting said goal. For instance, let us say we want someone else's cake. Having decided on the goal, we then decide the best way to get there is to demand it. We assume that since we are the upperclassman and the cake belongs to freshmen, there isn't anything they can do. However, the cake, it turns out, has been sprayed with Lysol. Also, demanding the cake irritated the freshmen, so while you are at the library, said freshmen stuff rotting chicken up your air vent.

This illustrates that pragmatism violates itself because it doesn't work. The above was a humorous situation, after the chicken was removed, but the mess Neville Chamberlain created in Europe wasn't a funny for the hundreds of thousand of Czechoslovakians Hitler killed.

The reason pragmatism is so appealing is because its main contender isn't so appealing if you just want to help yourself here and now. Christianity tells us to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.

Most atheists talk about the divine busybody who makes us do the right thing because it is his set of rules. God created the world and the universe a certain way, with a structure that works very well when you follow the rules. When you violate the way the universe is structured, there are natural consequences. God's rules are the owner's manual to the universe, and people throw away the manual, talking about being 'free spirits' and 'independent of a omnipotent dictator' and proceed to fail miserably in their lives.

When you choose what is right over what you think works, the outcome is good. The catch is that it may not be good for you right now. Thus, if you are the most important person in the world (as per atheism and evolution) and if there is no afterlife (as per atheism) then pragmatism is a far better option, but it will still fill your room with stinking chicken.