Pragmatic Perspectives: Constructivism beyond Truth and Realism PDF
Preview Pragmatic Perspectives: Constructivism beyond Truth and Realism
Pragmatic Perspectives For a good part of the 20th century, the classic Pragmatists—Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey—and pragmatism in general were largely ignored by analytic philosophers. They were said to hold such untenable views as whatever best satisfies our needs is true and that the end justifies the means. Despite a recent revival of interest in these figures, spurred largely by the work of Richard Rorty, it is not uncommon to continue to hear claims that pragmatism is a subjectivist, anti-realist position that denies that there is a mind-independent world, and fails to place objective constraints on inquiry. In this book, Robert Schwartz dispels these traditional views by examining the empiricist and constructivist orientation of the classic pragmatists. Based on updated and expanded versions of his influential papers, as well as a number of previously unpublished essays, in this book Schwartz demonstrates the relevance of pragmatic thought to a wide range of issues beyond concerns over truth and realism that currently dominate discussions. The individual essays elaborate and defend pragmatic, instrumentalist, and constructivist conceptions of truth and inquiry, moral discourse and ethical statements, perception, art, and worldmaking. Pragmatic Perspectives will appeal to scholars interested in the history of American philosophy and pragmatic approaches to contemporary issues in analytic philosophy. Robert Schwartz is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has taught at Rockefeller University and The City University of New York, and has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Chicago. He is the author of V ision: Variations on Some Berkeleian Themes , Visual Versions, and R ethinking Pragmatism. Routledge Studies in American Philosophy Edited by Willem deVries University of New Hampshire, USA Henry Jackman York University, Canada Pragmatism and the European Traditions Encounters with Analytic Philosophy and Phenomenology Before the Great Divide Edited by Maria Baghramian and Sarin Marchetti Community and Loyalty in American Philosophy Royce, Sellars, and Rorty Steven A. Miller Sellars and the History of Modern Philosophy Edited by Luca Corti and Antonio M. Nunziante The Ethics of Wilfrid Sellars Jeremy Randel Koons Wilfrid Sellars and Buddhist Philosophy Freedom from Foundations Edited by Jay L. Garfield The Network Self Relation, Process, and Personal Identity Kathleen Wallace Deweyan Experimentalism and the Problem of Method in Political Philosophy Joshua Forstenzer Pragmatic Perspectives Constructivism beyond Truth and Realism Robert Schwartz For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Studies-in-American-Philosophy/book-series/RSAP Pragmatic Perspectives Constructivism beyond Truth and Realism Robert Schwartz First published 2020 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Taylor & Francis The right of Robert Schwartz to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-04911-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-19923-3 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC For Henry So inquisitive, so ebullient, and so much more. Contents Acknowledgments and Sources ix List of Figures x Introduction 1 PART I Background 5 1 Whatever Happened to Pragmatism? 7 2 Pragmatic Inquiry and the “Go” of Truth 21 3 Epistemology: Inquiry or Knowledge 37 4 Pragmatism, Inquiry, and Knowledge 50 PART II Constructivism 67 5 I’m Going to Make You a Star 69 6 Starting From Scratch: Making Worlds 84 7 The Power of Pictures 92 8 Creating Art, Creating Reality: A “Wild(e) View of Art” 101 PART III Values and Ethics 111 9 The Facts About Facts 113 10 Pragmatic Constructivism: Values, Norms, and Obligations 126 viii Contents PART IV Perception 145 11 Veridicality in Berkeley’s Theory of Vision 147 12 Pluralist Perspectives on Perceptual Error 158 13 Perceptual Veridicality 165 Index 189 Acknowledgments and Sources Essay 1. “Whatever Happened to Pragmatism?”, in M. Murphey and I. Berg, eds. Values and Value Theory in Twentieth-Century America: Essays in Honor of Elizabeth Flower, 37–45. Philadelphia: Temple Uni- versity Press (1988). Essay 4. “Pragmatism, Knowledge and Inquiry”, in U. Dirks and A. Wagner, eds., A bel im Dialog, 1279–1296. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH (2018). Essay 5. “I’m Going to Make You a Star”, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, XI, 427–439 (1986). Essay 6. “Starting from Scratch Making Worlds”, E rkenntnis 52, 151– 159 (2000). Essay 7. “The Power of Pictures”, J ournal of Philosophy , LXXXII Dec., 711–720 (1985). Essay 8. “Creating Art, Creating Reality: A Wild(e) View of Art”, in G. Abel, ed. Kreativitat, 836–843. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag (2006). Essay 9. “The Facts about Facts”, I ride (2007), 67–81 (published in Italian). Essay 10. “Pragmatic Constructivism: Values, Norms, and Obligations”, in G. Marchetti and S. Marchetti, eds. F acts and Values: The Ethics and Metaphysics of Normativity, 42–59. New York: Routledge (2017). Essay 12. “Pluralist Perspectives in Perceptual Error”, in G. Abel and H.J. Sandkuehler, eds. P luralism: Theory of Knowledge Ethics and Politics , 233–240. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag (1993). Essay 13. “Perceptual Veridicality”, P hilosophical Topics New Directions in the Philosophy of Perception (2017), 380–403.
The list of books you might like
