American Pragmatism

Catalog description

This class will focus on the distinctively American philosophical movement called Pragmatism. Pragmatism originated in an experimental theory of truth and subsequently evolved into a naturalistic theory of meaning and action centered on consequence and practical value. Pragmatism is one of the main philosophical movements of the West and increasingly in the 21st Century, across the world. In this course we will pay special attention to three features o?f this philosophical view: first, its historical origins in opposition to aspects of “modern” Western philosophy since the 17th-century rise of modern science especially in relation to epistemic Idealism and Logical Positivism; second, its radically experimental character informed by kinds of Darwinian thought that arose in the nineteenth century; and, third, the moral and political ramifications of pragmatism especially with regards to axiological issues concerning personal and social identity, now and into the future.