Customer Reviews

Pragmatism: A Reader

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This book is astounding! It manages to accomplish in around 500 pages the twin tasks of giving a functional outline of the rise and rise of pragmatic thought and also to give examples, old and new, of that same pragmatic thought. The three more well-known "founders" (popularisers) of this philosophical method slash attitude are here in C.S. Peirce, William James and John Dewey along with an interesting selection of more modern pragmatists, such as Richard Rorty (of course!), Cornel West and Hilary Putnam. One name that is missing from the contemporary selection is Stanley Fish, but since he seems to aim his sights indiscriminately he may be thought to be rather roguish for this sane and coherent selection of writings that the editor, Louis Menand, has pulled together.

In his introductory piece Menand charts Pragmatism's birth in the universities of north eastern America in the second half of the nineteenth century and points up some of its distinctives (of which there are very few and deliberately so). This piece is worth the price of the book itself for its clarity, insight and authority. The choices Menand makes in presenting the pragmatic thinkers will always be one of judgment and decision (Are the two writings he chooses from Richard Rorty's work, "Philosophy as a Kind of Writing" and "Postmodernist Bourgeois Liberalism" really more appropriate to this collection? I would choose others.) and we may quibble with one or two and suggest others but Menand has made his choices and given his rationale and we, as readers, can ask no more. What is served up is insightful and powerful (when taken together) as an example of pragmatic thoughts in practice and, as such, demonstrates the oft written thought of William James that Pragmatism "does not stand for any special results. It is a method only." James means that pragmatists don't have to agree to be pragmatic for being pragmatic is "trac[ing] out in the imagination the conceivable practical consequences.....of the affirmation or denial" (C.S. Peirce) of whatever belief, truth or proposal you have in mind. Thus, we realise that Pragmatism as a philosophy is at least contextual, subjective and case by case. As a reader in Pragmatism this book does a superb job of demonstrating this and Menand, as editor, is to be congratulated. Much recommended.

PoSTmodERnFoOL

A good selection of readings with all sorts different authors. Putnam, James, Rorty, Dewy and West--just to name a few. The selections are interesting and varied enough to give the beginner to pragmatism an interesting first or second taste. For those that are more familiar with pragmatism, this gives a selection of authors that one may not be familiar with (be they contemporaries like Putnam or one of the originators like Dewey). Pragmatism apart from being (arguably) "true" (and any pragmatist should understand the scare quotes) is also a whole lot of fun!! An anthology with variety and short-ish readings is doubly so. Also, the introduction I think, is to be commended. It's pretty good and would be worth reading apart from this collection.

Could be considered the "sequel" to the other "Pragmatism" (by William James.) James sort of sketched the landscape and this book fills in the detail, with color. If you haven't read James's book, read it first, then this one.

Both eminently readable, but only for those who are into such things.

This book is an excellent and vert comprehensive overview of Pragmatism. This is only one thing that needs to be pointed out that wasn't directly stated in the other reviews. You have to be extremely interested in the subject matter and have a background in philosophy to firmly grasp the complex issues. Some chapters are more accessible to the layman than others, while the slight majority of them are difficult reads for anyone. I enjoyed the book and I absolutely loved some of the writings, especially William James's works, but it was not an easy read.

Lastly, the book was a little too dry. I have read other pragmatist works that were humorous and insightful while also being easily accessible to virtually all readers. This volume had none of these and that is a shame. Other than that the book was excellent and highly informative.

A very well written and illustrative introduction about history of pragmatism and its significance today. The articles and authors are well chosen and interesting

I don't particularly care about the origins of a school of thought, so I don't like pragmatism because it is American. Instead, I like pragmatism because of its novel ways of framing philosophical problems. I think that pragmatism is one of the few schools of thought that can be appreciated by philosophers and non-philosophers alike. That being said, anyone interested in American legal, social, philosophical, or educational thought needs to be familiar with pragmatism, and this reader is a great entry point.

Louis Menand did an outstanding job selecting the articles; each one gives new insights into pragmatism's methods and history while remaining interesting and readable, even for people who do not usually read philosophy. As other reviewers before me have written, the introduction is fantastic. Very rarely do I enjoy introductions (I often find them to be a slow read and rather ineffective), but I could not stop reading Menand's.