Pragmatism
(Philosophy 230)
Spring 2003, MW 2:30-3:55
Pols House Conference Room
P.D. Magnus
Campus phone x3982
Overview
Modern philosophy, beginning in the 17th-century, addressed questions of epistemology - questions of what and how we can know. `Knowledge' meant theoretical knowledge rather than practical knowledge, so epistemology had no obvious connection to practice. Many philosophers insisted that it had no essential connection to practice at all. It was about how things are rather than about what we can do.
In the United States in the 19th-century, some thinkers challenged this neat division between the theoretical and the practical. Belief involves a commitment to act in a certain way and so too, they argued, does knowledge. This challenge came first from transcendentalists, like essayists Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. And the challenge was made again by philosophers who would come to be called pragmatists: Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. According to the pragmatists, beliefs involve commitments to act- the theoretical and the practical cannot be kept apart.
In this course, we'll be concerned with the relation of belief and practice, as it plays out in some of the classics of American philosophy. We'll also try to figure out what pragmatism is.
Texts
- Pragmatism, William James [WJ]
- Self Reliance and other essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson [RWE]
- Pragmatism: a reader, edited by Louis Menand [LM]
- a custom course packet [Pkt]
Requirements
- Participation (30%)
Students are expected to read the material. You probably won't understand it all, but you should come to class with questions and be prepared to discuss. A perfect discussion grade would require contributing to the discussion every session.
- Class presentation (15%)
Students will give one short, in-class presentation during the course of the term. Topic and time will be arranged in class.
- Paper 1, 1000 words (25%)
- Paper 2, 2000 words (30%)
Schedule
The schedule is approximate. It will require some revision along the way.
- M 1/26
- Introduction
- W 1/28
- The modern tradition
Transcendentalism
- M 2/2
- Theodore Parker
read Pkt 1
- W 2/4
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
read `Self Reliance' from RWE
- M 2/9
- -continued-
Charles Sanders Peirce
- W 2/11
- Fixation of belief
read LM pp. 4-25
- M 2/16
- How to make our ideas clear
read LM pp. 26-48
- W 2/18
- -continued-
William James
- M 2/23
- Will to believe
PAPER 1 DUE
read LM pp. 69-92
- W 2/25
- Pragmatism!
read WJ lecture I
- M 3/1
- What pragmatism means
read WJ lecture II
- W 3/3
- Some metaphysical problems
read WJ lecture III
- M 3/8
- Common sense
read WJ lecture V
- W 3/10
- The conception of truth
read WJ lecture VI
SPRING BREAK!
- M 3/29
- Humanism
read WJ lecture VII
- W 3/31
- Religion
read WJ lecture VIII
20th-century pragmatism
- M 4/5
- John Dewey
read Pkt 3
- W 4/7
- -continued-
read Pkt 4
- M 4/12
- Peirce strikes back
read Pkt 2
- W 4/14
- C.I. Lewis
read Pkt 6
- M 4/19
- Jane Addams
read LM pp. 272-286
- W 4/21
- George Herbert Mead
read LM pp. 287-299
- M 4/26
- American realism
read Pkt 5
- W 4/28
- The analytic/synthetic distinction
read Pkt 7
- M 5/3
- Willard Van Orman Quine
read Pkt 8
- W 5/5
- -continued-
- M 5/10
- Later pragmatism
reading TBA
- W 5/12
- Concluding thoughts
PAPER 2 DUE