American Pragmatism

Pragmatism is perhaps America’s most distinctive contribution to philosophy.  Developed by Pierce, Dewey, and James in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pragmatism holds that both the meaning and the truth of any idea is a function of its practical outcome.  The pragmatists rejected all forms of absolutism and insisted that all principles be regarded as working hypotheses that must bear fruit in lived experience.  Join John and Ken as they dig into this intellectually vibrant, still influential, and distinctly American philosophical tradition with John McDermott from Texas A&M University, author of The Culture of Experience: Philosophical Essays in the American Grain.