Retell Lecture – Pragmatism
So what does pragmatism mean? Well, it might make us think of a pragmatic person with a serious disposition who thinks about every decision in methodical and practical terms. Now, they might not be the most fun at parties, but they always know when it’s time to pack it up. Not quite a full on optimist or pessimist, but a realist who looks at life in honest terms. Their name is probably something like Marshall or Madison. And while this is the conventional understanding of pragmatism, it’s actually so, so much more. A whole philosophical tradition with a focus on practical consequences. It’s also maybe the most American brand of philosophy, the apple pie to existentialism’s apricot cocktail, if you will. Now, for all the time that we’ve spent talking about philosophers, most of them have been European, or if not schooled in European schools of thought, stuff like existentialism, phenomenology, postmodernism, Marxism or critical theory. Also we’re very aware of, we’ve been a little Eurocentric in the philosophers we’ve talked about over the years. We’re going to branch out and try to do better. Thanks. For those of you who have kind of poked us and said, hey, do better, we appreciate it. Poke away, baby, poke away. But not in person. If you see me in person and you poke me physically like I’m a child, I’ll equalize you and it’ll change your life forever. It might seem like European philosophers are the ones asking all of the big questions. You know, stuff like what’s the meaning of existence? Is there a point to life? Is there such a thing as truth and confession? For much of my education, I kind of thought this was the case. And we might assume that American philosophers like the pragmatists spend their time talking about boring and practical questions and not the sort of deep and edgy stuff that makes bros get Nietzsche tagged.