A branch of philosophy founded by the American philosophers Peirce, Charles Sanders and William James---the latter is credited with coining the term, but he attributes the concept to Peirce. Pragmatism is distinguished by its interest in how things work and its foregrounding of belief as an effective mode of thought---we act on beliefs, even when we have no way of verifying them. It is interested in the ways by which humans and indeed all organisms mentally adapt to their environment and create a workable relationship with it via the elaboration of concepts. See also constructivism.