School of thought

Neo-Pragmatism

Movement

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Classification

Period
c. 1979 CE onward
Regions
north america
Domains
Epistemology , Philosophy of Language

Overview

Neo-Pragmatism recasts and radicalizes classical pragmatism's anti-foundationalism. Rorty argued that philosophy should abandon the quest for objective truth and instead see knowledge as a matter of social conversation and solidarity. Brandom developed inferentialism — meaning is constituted by inferential relations between concepts. Putnam sought to reconcile realism with pragmatist insights.

Key ideas

  • Anti-Representationalism: Rorty: the mind does not 'mirror' nature. Knowledge is not a representation of reality but a set of practices for coping with the world. Drop the mirror metaphor.
  • Solidarity Over Objectivity: We should not seek to transcend our community's standards to reach 'objective truth' but instead expand the community of conversation and deepen mutual understanding.
  • Inferentialism: Brandom: the meaning of a concept is determined by its role in inferences — what it follows from and what follows from it — not by what it refers to.

Key figures

Richard Rorty · Hilary Putnam · Robert Brandom · Cornel West

Influenced by

References