Brian Martine

This course analyzes the development of the distinctively American philosophy that came to be called “Pragmatism.” The pragmatic tradition grows up out of its founders’ discontent with what they took to be overemphasis on theoretical abstraction in European traditions. Insisting instead on making practical experience central to the formation and testing of new ideas, C.S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey gave voice to a new intellectual movement that continues to thrive here and abroad.