Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Pragmatism and Objectivity: Essays Sparked by the Work of Nicholas Rescher (NDPR Review)

Pragmatism and Objectivity: Essays Sparked by the Work of Nicholas Rescher
// Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // News

2017.09.09 : View this Review Online | View Recent NDPR Reviews

Sami Pihlström (ed.), Pragmatism and Objectivity: Essays Sparked by the Work of Nicholas Rescher, Routledge, 2017, ix+282 pp., $ 140.00 (hbk), ISBN 9781138655232. Reviewed by Michele Marsonet, University of Genoa

In this collection of 14 essays many aspects of classical and contemporary pragmatism are examined with reference, at least in most cases, to the work of Nicholas Rescher. Usually, those who are interested in pragmatism from an historical point of view tend to forget that, from the beginning, a substantial polarity is present in this tradition of thought. It is a dichotomy between what Rescher calls "pragmatism of the left", i.e. a flexible type of pragmatism which endorses a greatly enhanced cognitive relativism, and a "pragmatism of the right", a different position that sees the pragmatist stance as a source of cognitive security. Both positions are eager to assure pluralism in the cognitive enterprise and in the concrete conduct of...

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