15734. DEMOCRACY AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRAGMATISM. American democracy has been influenced by pragmatism despite the fact that the Founding Fathers emphasized the importance of natural law and pragmatism rejects absolute principles. This paper describes the pro and con views on pragmatism's influence, and argues that the pragmatic view is the correct one to take because there is a need for the acceptance of pluralism and tolerance in contemporary democracy. 11 pages, 33 footnotes, 6 bibliographic sources.