Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the NeopragmatistsPerhaps the most significant development in American philosophy in recent times has been the extraordinary renaissance of Pragmatism, marked most notably by the reformulations of the so-called "Neopragmatists" Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. With Pragmatism offering the allure of potentially resolving the impasse between epistemological realists and antirealists, analytic and continental philosophers, as well as thinkers across the disciplines, have been energized and engaged by this movement. In Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists, David L. Hildebrand asks two important questions: first, how faithful are the Neopragmatists' reformulations of Classical Pragmatism (particularly Deweyan Pragmatism)? Second, and more significantly, can their Neopragmatisms work? In assessing Neopragmatism, Hildebrand advances a number of historical and critical points: * Current debates between realists and antirealists (as well as objectivists and relativists) are similar to early twentieth-century debates between realists and idealists that Pragmatism addressed extensively. * Despite their debts to Dewey, the Neopragmatists are reenacting realist and idealist stands in their debate over realism, thus giving life to something shown fruitless by earlier Pragmatists. * What is absent from the Neopragmatist's position is precisely what makes Pragmatism enduring: namely, its metaphysical conception of experience and a practical starting point for philosophical inquiry that such experience dictates. * Pragmatism cannot take the "linguistic turn" insofar as that turn mandates a theoretical starting point. * While Pragmatism's view of truth is perspectival, it is nevertheless not a relativism. * Pace Rorty, Pragmatism need not be hostile to metaphysics; indeed, it demonstrates how pragmatic instrumentalism and metaphysics are complementary. In examining these and other difficulties in Neopragmatism, Hildebrand is able to propose some distinct directions for Pragmatism. Beyond Realism and Antirealism will provoke specialists and non-specialists alike to rethink not only the definition of Pragmatism, but its very purpose. |
Contents
Dewey and Realism | 8 |
Dewey and Idealism | 30 |
Rorty Putnam and Classical Pragmatism | 87 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists David L. Hildebrand Limited preview - 2003 |
Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists David L. Hildebrand Limited preview - 2003 |
Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists David L. Hildebrand Limited preview - 2021 |
Common terms and phrases
antecedent objects argued beliefs C. I. Lewis Carbondale Chapter claim Classical Pragmatism classical pragmatists cognitive conception context Critical Realism culture debate Dewey and Idealism Dewey writes Dewey's metaphysics Dewey's pragmatism Dewey's view Deweyan distinction dualism emphasis empirical ence epistemological ethical existence Experience and Nature fact function God's-eye Hilary Putnam human idea idealist Illinois University Press inquiry internal realism interpretation issue John Dewey Journal of Philosophy knowing language Lewis linguistic logical matism meaning method mind monism Montague neopragmatism neopragmatists Notes to Pages notion objects of knowledge ontological perception practical prag pragmatist problematic problems Putnam writes question Realism and AntiRealism realism/antirealism reality rejects relation relativism representationalism Richard Rorty Rorty and Putnam Rorty writes Rorty's Santayana scientific Sellars sense Sidney Morgenbesser situation social Southern Illinois University starting point theory things tion tism traditional truth verification vocabularies warrant Woodbridge