In Wittgenstein (Random House, New York, 1985), A. J. Ayer writes: [Wittgenstein] never adopted the phenomenalist thesis that physical theories can be translated into the set of propositions describing the observable states of affairs that would confirm them…he declared the confirmation of a hypothesis is never completed. In the same set of remarks he characterizedContinue reading “Ayer On Wittgenstein As Pragmatist”
Tag Archives: pragmatism
The Worst Sentence William James Ever Wrote
I have just concluded, in one of my classes this semester, my teaching of William James‘ classic Pragmatism, a bona fide philosophical classic, one richly repaying close reading and elaboration of its central theses. My admiration for James’ writing and thought continues to grow, even as this semester, I encountered a passage that is remarkably incongruous withContinue reading “The Worst Sentence William James Ever Wrote”
Getting The ‘Rorty’ In The ‘Putnam-Rorty Debate’ Wrong
In his essay on Hilary and Ruth Anna Putnam in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Tom Bartlett writes of the ‘famous’ Putnam-Rorty debate as follows: The crux of their dispute centered on how far to take pragmatism. [Richard] Rorty thought that the things we believe to be true aren’t actually connected to reality: There isContinue reading “Getting The ‘Rorty’ In The ‘Putnam-Rorty Debate’ Wrong”
Nietzsche As Pragmatist
Nietzsche is a pragmatist with strong resonances with the American pragmatists; this is not a new claim. Renè Berthelot, for instance, termed Nietzsche “a German pragmatist” and emphasized the resemblance between Nietzsche’s perspectivism and the pragmatist theory of truth.[1][2] The resemblance between Nietzsche and the American pragmatists [3] is made especial note of in Arthur Danto‘s NietzscheContinue reading “Nietzsche As Pragmatist”
Anticipating Another Encounter With Books And Students
This coming fall semester promises to be a cracker: I have the usual heavy teaching load of three classes (including two four-credit classes whose lectures will be one hundred minutes long, thus making for a very exhausting Monday-Wednesday sequence of teaching running from 9:05 AM to 3:30 PM, with an hour break between the secondContinue reading “Anticipating Another Encounter With Books And Students”
Critical Theory And The Supposed Post-Truth Era: The Ideological Reaction
The tools that critical theory provides enable the undermining and subversion of established structures of power–political, cultural, discursive, technical, material, governmental, architectural, scientific, moral. They expose ideological pretensions and foundations, thus making it possible to see that all that is seemingly permanent and absolute may rest on evanescence. on historical contingency and accident and luck;Continue reading “Critical Theory And The Supposed Post-Truth Era: The Ideological Reaction”
Durkheim On The Pragmatist Conception Of Truth
Pragmatism’s much reviled ‘theory of truth’ received a sympathetic and yet critical and rigorous treatment in Émile Durkheim‘s little-known–to philosophers–Pragmatism and Sociology (John P. Allcock, ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1955.) As part of this treatment, Durkheim notes that: If thought had as its object simply to ‘reproduce’ reality, it would be the slaveContinue reading “Durkheim On The Pragmatist Conception Of Truth”
Durkheim On Social Facts As Things: Methodology As Metaphysics
In The Rules of Sociological Method (The Free Press, 1982, pp. 35-36) Émile Durkheim writes: The proposition which states that social facts must be treated as things…stirred up the most opposition. It was deemed paradoxical and scandalous for us to assimilate to the realities of the external world those of the social world. This was singularly toContinue reading “Durkheim On Social Facts As Things: Methodology As Metaphysics”
Richard Dawkins’ Inconsistent Reliance On Pragmatism
A very popular video on YouTube featuring Richard Dawkins is titled ‘Science Works, Bitches.’ It periodically makes the rounds on social media; as it does, Dawkins acolytes–in the video and on social media–applaud him as he ‘smacks down’ a questioner who inquires into the ‘justification’ for the scientific method. (A familiar enough question; for instance,Continue reading “Richard Dawkins’ Inconsistent Reliance On Pragmatism”
Brave Analytic Philosophers Use Trump Regime To Settle Old Academic Scores
Recently, Daniel Dennett took the opportunity to, as John Protevi put it, “settle some old academic scores.” He did this by making the following observation in an interview with The Guardian: I think what the postmodernists did was truly evil. They are responsible for the intellectual fad that made it respectable to be cynical aboutContinue reading “Brave Analytic Philosophers Use Trump Regime To Settle Old Academic Scores”
Samir Chopra 