"Twilight of Idols" is a 1917 essay by Randolph Bourne on the moral failings of instrumental pragmatist philosophy in the wake of American entry into World War I.
Following April 1917 American entry into World War I, the Seven Arts literary journal and left-wing intellectual circle began to publish several outspoken essays by Randolph Bourne, who had been ostracized from other publications for his anti-war stance, from June through October.
[1] Bourne contended that instrumentalism's preoccupation with moral ends and proper means forgot about values.
Similarly, pragmatists who uncritically focused on process and efficiency did not mind quality of life.
The youth, Bourne wrote, were trained to execute on events but not to contemplate the intellectual worth of their outcomes.