An empirical pragmatist tries to let reality make the final call. This person tends to build their worldview from what can be observed. There overall view, and for all topics if they are a pure empirical pragmatist, is to focus on critical thinking and pay attention to what has been tested, measured, and replicated — to what is already known. They may enjoy speculation, but speculation never falls into the truth bucket. I’m an empirical pragmatist. For me, string theory is interesting but not yet proven. That position allows me to call BS when a string theorists uses it to speculate about the nature of the universe. For empirical pragmatics, usefulness matters, but usefulness never outranks reality.
Take a topic like astrology, the empirical pragmatist lets the evidence close the door. Astrology may be fun, culturally interesting, or emotionally comforting for some, but for the empirical pragmatist, its empirical claims have failed and are simply wrong. Astrology is false. A pseudoscience akin to numerology. Valhalla is handled similarly, but for a different reason. While astrology is an example of a disproven irrational idea, Valhalla remains speculative. It describes a realm beyond observation. The empirical pragmatist may study it historically or mythologically, but not as a known reality.
