Rethinking pragmatism

183 Pages·2012·3.143 MB·English

by  Robert Schwartz

Rethinking Pragmatism

Rethinking Pragmatism
From William James to
Contemporary Philosophy
Robert Schwartz
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
This edition fi rst published 2012
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schwartz, Robert, 1940–
Rethinking pragmatism / Robert Schwartz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-67469-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Pragmatism. I. Title.
B832.S445 2012
144'.3–dc23
2011038091
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDFs 9781118253700;
Wiley Online Library 9781118253687; ePub 9781118253694; Mobi 9781118253717
Set in 10.5 on 13 pt Minion by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
1 2012
In honor and memory of Nelson Goodman,
teacher and friend, whose infl uence on
how I see philosophy and think about art
has become entrenched.

Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Bibliographic Key ix
Introduction 1
Background Themes 9
1 The Place of Values in Inquiry (Lecture I) 15
2 The Pragmatic Maxim and Pragmatic
Instrumentalism (Lecture II) 31
3 Substance and Other Metaphysical Claims (Lecture III) 52
4 Materialism, Physicalism, and Reduction (Lecture IV) 67
5 Ontological Commitment and the Nature of
the Real (Lecture V) 78
6 Pragmatic Semantics and Pragmatic Truth (Lecture VI) 92
7 Worldmaking (Lecture VII) 124
8 Belief, Hope, and Conjecture (Lecture VIII) 140
Bibliography 157
Index 163
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Margaret Atherton, Harvey Cormier, Bruce Kuklick,
Michael Liston, Cheryl Mesak, Israel Scheffl er, and William Wainwright for
comments and criticism. I also wish to thank the students in my seminars
on pragmatism for their input and suggestions. In writing this book my
many discussions with Sidney Morgenbesser about pragmatism and the
history of pragmatism were never far from mind. I owe a particular debt
to Michael Liston for help in understanding the late nineteenth - and early
twentieth - century issues in science that provided an important background
for the development of pragmatic thought. Thanks as well to Justin
D’ A mbrosio for help with the bibliography and to Max Goldberg for
the index.
B ibliographic Key
W orks of William James:
MT T he Meaning of Truth , in P ragmatism and the Meaning of
Truth (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978)
P P ragmatism , in P ragmatism and The Meaning of Truth
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978)
PP I / II T he Principles of Psychology , vols. I and II (New York: Dover,
1950)
SPP S ome Problems in Philosophy (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1996)
WB T he Will to Believe (New York: Dover, 1956)