PDF Pragmatism: An Old Name for Some New Ways of Thinking?

[Pages:211]Pragmatism: An Old Name for Some New Ways of Thinking? Author(s): James T. Kloppenberg Source: The Journal of American History, Vol. 83, No. 1 (Jun., 1996), pp. 100-138 Published by: Organization of American Historians Stable URL: . Accessed: 27/07/2011 13:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . . JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . . . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@.

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PragmatismA: n Old NameforSome New WaysofThinking?

JamesT. Kloppenberg

WilliamJameswasstuckF. acingthepublicatioonfPragmatisimn 1907,he had to decidewhethetro strestshenoveltyofhisphilosophoyritscontinuitwyith earlierideas.Jamesjokedthatpragmatiswmouldlaunch"somethinqguitelike theprotestanrteformatioann"dpredictetdhatit wouldbe "thephilosophoyf thefutureY."ethealsobelievedthatheandhisfellowpragmatiswtserebuilding ona foundatiolnaidbyphilosophefrrsomSocratetsotheBritisehmpiricistTso. softentheblowhe wasaboutto deliverJ, amesdedicatedPragmatismto the memoroyfthevenerateJdohnStuarMt illandaddedthesubtitlAe NewName forSomeOld WaysofThinkingh,opingthatsucha pedigreme ighrtestraitnhose inclinedto denouncehisprogenyA. s myinversioonfJames'subtitlseuggests, a historiasneekingto analyzeand explainthecurrenrtevivaol fpragmatism confrontthsesamequestionJamesfaced:Havecontemporaprryagmatisrtessurrectedtheideasofearlierthinkerosrrejectedeverythinbgutthename?'

Thereturonfpragmatisimssomethinogfa surprisWe. henDavidA. Hollinger recountetdhecareerofpragmatisimntheJournaolfAmericaHnistoryin 1980, he notedthatpragmatishmad all butvanishedfromAmericanhistoriography duringtheprevioutshreedecades.In 1950,HollingerecalledH, enrySteele Commagerhad proclaimedpragmatism"almostthe officiapl hilosophyof America"b;y1980,in Hollingerj'us dgmentc,ommentatoornsAmericacnulture had learnedto getalongjustfinewithoutit. "Ifpragmatismhas a future," Hollingecroncluded",itwillprobablylookverydifferenfrtomitspast,andthe twomaynotevensharea name."Yet pragmatismtodayis notonlyaliveand

JamesT. Kloppenbergis associateprofessoorf historyat BrandeisUniversity. Forstimulatingconversatioannd criticismI,am gratefutlo SusanArmenyT, homasBender,CaseyBlake,

David Depew, JohnDiggins,RichardFox, Giles Gunn, PeterHansen,David Hollinger,Hans Joas,James LivingstonT,imothyPeltason,Am6lieOksenbergRortyD, orothyRoss,CharleneHaddockSeigfriedR, ichard ShustermanD,avid Thelen,RobertWestbrooka,nd JoanWilliams.I am particularliyndebtedto RichardJ. Bernsteinand RichardRortyfortheirgenerosity.

' WilliamJamesto HenryJames,May4, 1907,in TheLettersof WilliamJames,ed. HenryJames(2 vols., New York, 1920), II, 279; WilliamJamesto TheodoreFlournoyJ, an. 2, 1907, in Ralph BartonPerry,The Thoughtand Characterof WilliamJames:As Revealedin UnpublishedCorrespondencaend Notes, Together withHis PublishedWriting(s2 vols.,Boston,1935), II, 452-53. Jamestracedpragmatismto itsancientroots inWilliamJames,PragmatismA: NewNameforSome Old WaysofThinking(1907; CambridgeM, ass.,1978), 30-31. Ibid., 3.

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well,it is ubiquitous.2 Referencetso pragmatismoccurwithdizzyingfrequency fromphilosophyto socialscience,fromthestudyofliteraturteo thatofethnicity, fromfeminismto legaltheoryA. s Hollingerpredictedm, uchofthispragmatism looksverydifferenftromtheoriginalversion.Somepostmodernisatrse attracted topragmatismbecauseitofferas devastatincgritiqueofall philosophicafloundationsand justifieaswide-ranginlginguistisckepticismagainstall claimsofobjectivity,consensusa,nd truthS. o conceiveda,s a speciesofpostmodernismratherthan as an updatedversionof thequestfortruththatJamesidentifiedwithSocrates and Mill,pragmatismhasindeedbecomean old namefornewwaysofthinking.

In thisessayI advancethreeargumentsF:irstt, heearlypragmatistesmphasized 'experience,"whereasomecontemporarpyhilosopherasndcriticws hohavetaken "thelinguisticturn"are uneasywiththatconcept.Second,the earlypragmatists believedtheirphilosophicaildeashadparticulaerthicalandpoliticalconsequences, whereassomecontemporartyhinkerws hocall themselvepsragmatistcsonsiderit merelya methodof analysis.Third,the currentcontroversaybout pragmatism mattersprofoundlyto historiansA. t stakeis not merelythe historicaml eaning of early-twentieth-centpurragymatismi,mportanats thatissueis forintellectual historyL.oomingevenlargerforhistorianisncontemporardyebatesaboutpragmatismareimplicitquestionsaboutourpracticeofhistoricaslcholarshipT.wo rival campsarestrugglinogverthelegacyofpragmatismE.arly-twentieth-cenpturragymatistsenvisioneda modernistdiscourseof democraticdeliberationin which communitieosfinquirytestedhypotheseisn orderto solveproblemss; uchcontemporarypragmatistasRichardJB. ernsteinandHilaryPutnamsustainthattradition. Othercontemporariseuschas RichardRortyand StanleyFishpresentpragmatism as a postmodernisdtiscourseofcriticaclommentartyhatdeniesthatwe canescape theconventionasnd contingencieosflanguagein orderto connectwitha world of experienceoutsidetexts,let alone solveproblemsin thatworld.Connecting withexperiencies preciselywhatwehistorianasttemptto do. Thesecontroversies overpragmatismold andnewarethustieddirectlytothelegitimacoyfourpractice in studyingthepast and to the claimsof our communityof inquiryabout the significancoef thepast forthepresent.

Experienceand Language

The earlypragmatistssoughtto reorienpthilosophyawayfrominterminablaend fruitlesdsebatesbyinsistingthatideas shouldbe testedin practice.As partof theiroveralcl ommitmenttoproblemsolvingt,heirconceptionofexperiencleinked thephilosophiesof WilliamJamesandJohnDewey,thepragmatistws homost powerfullyinfluencedAmericancultureduringthe firsthalf of the twentieth

2 David A. Hollinger,"The ProblemofPragmatismin AmericanHistory,"Journoafl AmericanHistory6, 7 (June 1980),88, 107. FiveyearslaterHollingercheerfullaydmittedthathisobituaryhad beenprematureS.ee DavidA. HollingerI,n theAmericanProvinceS: tudiesintheHistoryandHistoriographoyfIdeas (Bloomington, 1985),23, 25, 43. A splendidsurveyis RichardJ.Bernstein",The ResurgencoefPragmatism,S"ocialResearch, 59 (Winter1992), 813-40.

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century.W3 hat did Jamesand Deweymean by experience?Both rejectedthe dualisms-the separationof the mindfromthe body,and of the subjectfrom theobject-that had dividedidealistsfromempiricistssinceReneDescartesand JohnLocke.Theywereequallyscornfuolfnineteenth-centuidryealistsi'nfatuation withintrospectioanndpositivistrse' ductionofallphilosophicaqluestionstomatter and motion.Insteadtheypreferreodthermetaphorsuchas "field"or "stream" or ''circuit"to suggestthe continuityand meaningfulnesosf consciousnestshat had eluded bothempiricistasnd rationalistst;heir"radicalempiricismr"estedon theirrevisedconceptofconsciousnessIm. mediateexperiencaesJamesand Dewey conceivedof it is alwaysrelational(it neverexistsin theabstractor in isolation froma worldcontainingbothotherpersonsandconcretreealitiesa,sdidDescartes's rationalisctogito),creative(it nevermerelyregisterssensedata passivelya,s did Locke'sempiricisttabularasa),and imbuedwithhistoricallsypecificulturavl alues (itis never"human"oruniversalb, utalwayspersonalandparticular)P.ragmatists distrustedall formsof foundationalisma,ll attemptsto establishphilosophyon unchanginga priori postulatesR. atherthangroundingvaluesin thebedrockof timelessabsolutes,theyurgedus to evaluateall of our belief-sphilosophical, scientifirc,eligiouse,thical,andpolitica-l beforethetesttheyconsideredthemost

demandingof all: our experienceas socialand historicabl eings.4 The earlypragmatistsc'onceptionof testingthe truthof ideas in experience

igniteda firestormof controverstyhatcontinuesto rage.Philosophersuchas BertranRd ussell,GeorgeSantayanaJ, osiahRoyce,andArthuLrovejoyimmediately targeteJdames.Culturalcriticsuchas RandolphBourne,Van WyckBrooks,and LewisMumfordand partisansof naturallaw suchas (the erstwhilperagmatist) WalterLippmannand MortimerAdlerlaterwentafterDewey,as did Marxists suchas TheodorAdornoand MaxHorkheimerA. ll thesecriticcshargedpragmatists withelevatingexpedientn, ovel,narrowliyndividualisticin, strumentaaln, d technocraticonsiderationasbove truthand goodnessas revealedbyphilosophya,rt, or theology.5

3In thisessayI willconcentratoen WilliamJamesandJohnDeweyinsteadof CharlesSandersPeircefor two reasons.First,Peirceexplainedin 1904 thathe "invented"pragmatism"to expressa certainmaximof logic. . . forthe analysisofconcepts"ratherthan"sensation"and groundedit on "an elaboratestudyof the natureofsigns."FortheprecisereasonwhyPeirce'sideashaveinfluenceadnalyticphilosopherasnd semioticians, his workis less pertinenthere. See H. S. Thayer,Meaningand Action: A CriticalHistoryof Pragmatism (Indianapolis,1981), 493-94. Second,discussingthe recenttorrenotf workon Peirceis beyondthescopeof thisessay.Fora fineintroductions,eeJamesHoopes, ed., Peirceon Signs: Writingosn Semioticby Charles SandersPeirce(Chapel Hill, 1991); on Peirce'storturedlifeseeJosephBrent,CharlesSandersPeirce:A Life (Bloomington1, 993); and on his philosophyofscience,see C. F. Delaney,Science,Knowledge,and Mind:A Studyin thePhilosophyof C. S. Peirce(NotreDame, 1993).

4 On James'sconceptof immediateexperience,see JamesM. Edie, WilliamJamesand Phenomenology (Bloomington1, 987); morecomprehensivaere PerryT, houghtand Characterof WilliamJames;and GeraldE. Myers,WilliamJames:His Lifeand Thought(New Haven, 1986). On Dewey'slifeand thought,see RobertB. WestbrookJ,ohnDeweyand AmericanDemocracy(Ithaca,1991); on qualitativeissuesin Dewey'sphilosophy, seeJamesGouinlockJ, ohnDewey'sPhilosophyof Value(New York, 1972).

s A compilationofthesecriticismis inJohnPatrickDiggins,ThePromiseofPragmatismM: odernismand theCrisisofKnowledgeandAuthority(Chicago,1994).JamesHoopes,RobertWestbrooka,ndI areunpersuaded by Diggins'sinterpretatioonf pragmatismF. or our explanationsand Diggins'sresponse,see JamesHoopes, "Peirce'sCommunityofSigns:The PathUntakenin AmericanSocialThought,"IntellectuaHl istoryNewsletter, 17 (1995), 3-6; JamesT. Kloppenberg,"The Authorityof Evidenceand the Boundariesof Interpretation,"

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Muchas suchcriticismstung,it sharpenedJames'sand Dewey'sformulations oftheirideas. Someoftheirbestwritingn,otablyJames'sTheMeaningof Truth (1909) andDewey'sExperiencaend Nature(1925), cameinresponsetotheircritics. Theirclarificatiornesvealwhysomecontemporarpyostmodernistesn' thusiasmand somecontemporartyraditionalistssc'ornaremisdirecteadtJamesand Dewey.In PragmatismJameshad triedto head offsome misunderstandinigns advance. Lookingbackat hisargumenti,t is difficultto see howanyonecouldaccusehim of identifyintgruthwithwhateverit is conveniento believe.He specified"our dutyto agreewithreality"and expressedexasperationat his critics"' favorite formulafordescribingp"ragmatis-t"spersons whothinkthatbysayingwhatever youfinditpleasantto sayand callingittruthyoufulfielverypragmatistricequirement."To thecontraryJ,amesprotested": Pentin, as thepragmatismt orethan anyoneelseseeshimselfto be, betweenthewholebodyoffundedtruthsqueezed fromthepastand thecoercionsoftheworldofsenseabouthim,whoso wellas he feelstheimmensepressuroefobjectivecontroul nderwhichourmindsperform

theiroperations?"6 Whenhiscriticcsontinuedto accusehimofcounselinghisreadersto believe

anyfictiontheymightfindexpedientJ, amesrespondedbywritingTheMeaning of Truth.Therehe specifiedthe circumstanceins whichone mightinvokethe pragmatictestof truthand clarifiedthe conditionsnecessaryforverifyinagny propositionpragmaticallyF.irst,and fundamentallyit,mustcorrespondto what is knownfromexperienceabout the naturalworld.The followingapparently unambiguousentencehas escapedtheattentionofJames'scritic-sand someof his contemporarcyhampions:"The notionof a realityindependentof . . . us, takenfromordinarysocialexperiencel,iesat thebaseofthepragmatisdtefinition of truth."Callinghimselfan "epistemologicarlealist,"Jamesexplainedthathe simplytookforgrantedthe existenceof thatindependentrealityand did not consideritsindependenetxistencpehilosophicalliynterestinogrimportantS.econd, tobejudgedpragmaticalltyrue,a propositionmustbeconsistenwtiththeindividual'sstockofexistingbeliefsb, eliefsthathadwithstoodtheseveretestofexperience. That,Jamesfeltsure,wouldruleout simplemindedwishfutlhinkingF. inally,a statemenmt aybe consideredpragmaticalltyrueif it fulfilltshosetwoconditions and yieldssatisfactionR.eligiousfaithrepresentetdoJamesa perfectillustration oftheappropriatteerrainfortestingtruthclaimspragmaticallyin: theabsenceof irrefutabelevidenceJ, amesjudgedrelevantheconsequenceosffaithforbelievers.7

17 (1995), 3-6; JamesT. Kloppenberg,"The Authorityof Evidenceand the Boundariesof Interpretation," ibid., 7-15; RobertWestbrook,"The Authorityof Pragmatism,i"bid., 16-24; and JohnPatrickDiggins, "Pragmatismand the Historians,"ibid., 25-30. On criticswho valued the capacitiesof creativeindividuals abovepragmatistcso' ncernws ithcommunitieosf discourseand socialjustice,see CaseyNelsonBlake,Beloved CommunityT:heCulturalCriticismofRandolphBourne,VanWyckBrooks,WaldoFrank,and LewisMumford (Chapel Hill, 1990). On WalterLippmannand MortimerAdler,see EdwardA. PurcellJr., The Crisisof DemocraticTheoryS:cientifiNcaturalismandtheProblemofValue(LexingtonK, y., 1973).On TheodorAdorno and MaxHorkheimers,ee MartinJay,TheDialecticalImaginationA: Historyof theFrankfurStchooland the Instituteof Social Research,1923-1950 (Boston,1973).

6James,Pragmatism1,11-12. 7 WilliamJames,TheMeaningof Truth(1909; Cambridge,Mass., 1975), 117, 106, 126-28.

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Dewey,whoseproddinghad helped spurJamesto refinehis position,likewise arguedthroughouhtislongcareerthatwe shouldconceiveofall ourknowledge as hypothesetso be testedin experience.

At thecoreofJames'sand Dewey'spragmatismwasexperiencceonceivedn, ot as introspectionb,utas theintersectioonftheconsciouselfwiththeworld.They conceivedof knowingsubjectsas embodimentosf reason,emotion,and values, and theyemphasizedthe inadequacyof philosophersa'ttemptsto freeze,split apart,and compartmentaliztehe dynamiccontinuitieasnd multipledimensions of lifeas we live it. Theyconceivedof individualsas alwaysenmeshedin social conditions,yetselectingwhatto attendto fromthe multiplicityof conscious experiencea,nd makinghistorybymakingchoices.Theyconceivedofexperience as intrinsicallaynd irreduciblmy eaningfula,nd theyinsistedthatits meanings werenot predetermineodr deduciblefromanyall-encompassinpgattern.They arguedthatmeaningsemergeas culturestesttheirvaluesin practiceand thatwe encounterexpressionosfthosemeaningsin thehistoricarlecord.

Languagewas thuscrucialforunderstandintghe experienceof others,but for Jamesand Deweylanguagewasonlyoneimportanptartofa richerb, roaderrange thatincludedinterpersonaale,sthetics,piritualr, eligiousa,nd otherprelinguistic ornonlinguistficormosfexperienceM. oreovert,heyrealizedthatlanguagenotonly feedstheimaginationbutalsoplacesconstraintosn understandinbgyspecifyinag particularangeof meanings.In PragmatismJ,ameswrote,"All truththusgets verballybuiltout, storedup, and made availableforeveryoneH. ence,we must talkconsistentlyju,stas wemustthinkconsistentlyA."lthoughJamesappreciated whatis nowcharacterizeads thearbitrarineosfs signifierhs,e drewthefollowing noteworthcyonclusion": Namesarearbitraryb,ut onceunderstoodtheymustbe keptto. We mustn'tnow call Abel 'Cain' or Cain 'Abel.' If we do, we ungear ourselvesfromthewholebookof Genesis,and fromall itsconnexionws iththe universeof speechand factdown to the presenttime." We cannottestevery propositionourselveosrentertheimmediateexperiencoefothers.Yet we neverthelesshaveaccessto verifiablheistoricakl nowledge,evenifonlyindirectlaynd throughlanguage."As trueas past timeitselfwas,so truewasJuliusCaesar,so truewereantediluvianmonstersa,ll in theirproperdatesand settingsT. hatpast timeitselfwas,is guaranteedbyitscoherencwe itheverythintghat'spresentT. rue as thepresentis thepastwasalso."8Whendealingwithverifiabldeata,whether aboutCaesarsoraboutceratopsiansw, eplace eachdatumin thewebofevidence we humanshavebeenspinningforcenturiesE.venwhenconsiderinugnverifiable narrativessuchas Genesis,werisklosingthecoherenctehatmakescommunication possibleunlesswe preservemeaningswithinourweb ofculturalmemory.

Deweysharedthatappreciationoftheimportancoefsymbolasnd theindispensabilityofcommonunderstanding"sA. ll discourseo,ralorwritten,h" e conceded in Experiencaend Nature,"saysthingsthatsurpristeheone thatsaysthem."But thatmakescommunicatiodnifficultn,ot impossible.Conversatiounnderstoodas

8 James,Pragmatism1,02-3.

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one to another,butmeaningsmaybe sharedbymeansofsigns";eventuallysuch sharingconvert"sa conjoiningactivityintoa communitoyfinteresatndendeavor." Deweyacknowledgedthechallengeof suchcommunication":mutualinteresitn sharedmeaningsd" oesnotemerge"allatonceorcompletely.L"ikeJamesh,owever, Deweyemphasizedthatsuchcommunicatiocnanyieldprovisionaulnderstandings ofthepast,itsmeaningsforthepresenta,nd itsrolein theformulatioonfshared socialaspirationsF. orDewey,dialoguebetweenindividualsin communityw, ith its "directgive and take,"providedthe model forsuch communication":the wingedwordsofconversatioinn immediateintercoursheavea vitalimportlacking in thefixedand frozenwordsof writtenspeech."9

Dewey realizedthatthe conceptof experiencecaused difficultiefsormany analyticphilosophersw, hodefinedphilosophyas thestudyoflanguageandlogic, butdespitetheircriticismh,e clungto ittotheend ofhislife.Deweytoyedwith exchangingtheword"experiencef"or"culture"as late as 1951, but in theend he refused": weneed a cautionaryand directivwe ord,likeexperiencet,o remind us thattheworldwhichis lived,suffereadnd enjoyedas wellas logicallythought of,hasthelastwordinallhumaninquiriesandsurmises.1"0In shortt,hepragmatic sensibilityofJamesand Deweywas a profoundlyhistoricaslensibility.

Listingsomeof the thinkerws ho alignedthemselvews ithJamesand Dewey suggeststheirenormousimpact.Sociologistsuchas GeorgeHerbertMead, legal theoristssuchas OliverWendellHolmesJr.and LouisD. Brandeis,economists such as RichardT. Ely, politicaltheoristsuch as HerbertCroly,theologians suchas WalterRauschenbuschand ReinholdNiebuhr,foundersoftheNational AssociationfortheAdvancementof ColoredPeople suchas W. E. B. Du Bois and WilliamEnglishWalling,and feministssuchasJaneAddamsandJessieTaft all derivedfrompragmatisma conceptionof experienceand a wayof thinking aboutabstracatndconcretpe roblemsthatorientedthemtohistoricaalnalysisand awayfrominheriteddogmas.Thosewholookedto philosophyand socialscience forsolid,permanenptrinciplefsoundpragmatismdisappointinagnd unattractive. ButmanyofthosewhosharedthebeliefofJamesand Deweythattheshiftfrom absolutesto the testof experiencemightencourageindependentthinkingand democratidcecisionmakingendorsedpragmatismbecauseit unsettledtraditional waysof thinkingwithoutsinkinginto themorassof subjectivismthatswallowed someturn-of-the-centruerbyels,suchas FriedricNhietzscheT. hesteadyinlgifeline of experiencepreventedpragmatistfsromslidingintofantasyc,ynicismo,r selfindulgence.

As theripplespragmatismsentacrossAmericanthoughtextendedwiderand widerduringthe earlytwentiethcenturyt,heymet-and eventuallyweresubmergedby-more powerfuwl avescomingfromotherdirectionsA. mongthemost importanotfthesewasenthusiasmforthecertaintwyidelyattributetdothenatural sciences,whichstoodin sharpcontrasto the pragmatistsf'orthrighatdmission

9JohnDewey,Experiencaend Nature,inJohnDewey,TheLaterWorks,1925-1953,ed. JoAnnBoydston (17 vols.,Carbondale,1981-1990),I, 152;JohnDewey,The Publicand Its Problems,ibid., II, 330-31.

10Dewey,Experienceand Nature,appendix2 (1951), 372.

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