Philosophy 230 - AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY

Topics course. This course will survey the unique contributions of American philosophers to the development of the Western philosophical tradition. Pragmatism rejected a number of the basic assumptions of ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy, and has played a leading role in reconfiguring our conceptions of knowledge, truth, beauty, and morality. We will read selections from the founders of pragmatism (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, Alaine Locke) and from neo-pragmatists (W.V. Quine, Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, Richard Shusterman) in order to show the relevance of pragmatism to contemporary debates concerning the nature of science, technology, aesthetics, politics, and the law. Enrollment limited to 25.

Topic: Pragmatism and Neo-Pragmatism.