Pragmatism Cybrary
Many of the philosophers who founded pragmatism, or defended their own versions of pragmatism, have been closely associated with Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Harvard University. During the "Golden Age" of American philosophy, the most important Cambridge pragmatists were Charles S. Peirce (M.A. Harvard 1862, professor at Johns Hopkins, and occasional lecturer at Harvard), and William James (M.D. Harvard 1869, professor at Harvard). According to Peirce, pragmatism was born in the discussions of the Metaphysical Club in Cambridge during the early 1870s with inspiration from positivist Chauncey Wright (B.A. Harvard 1852, occasional Harvard lecturer) and legal realist Nicholas St. John Green (L.L.D. Harvard 1861). Two more Harvard professors were heavily influenced by pragmatism: the pragmatic idealist Josiah Royce (professor at Harvard) and and the pragmatic naturalist George Santayana (Ph.D. Harvard 1889, professor at Harvard). Among the many students who received their degrees with this philosophy faculty, some became pragmatists in their own right, including John E. Boodin (Ph.D. Harvard 1899, professor at University of California, Los Angeles), Edward O. Sisson (Ph.D. Harvard 1905, professor at Reed College), Horace M. Kallen (Ph.D. Harvard 1908, professor at University of Wisconsin and The New School for Social Research), and Clarence I. Lewis (Ph.D. Harvard 1910, professor at Harvard).
Associated with the Cambridge philosophers are Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and W. E. B. Du Bois. Holmes (B.A. Harvard 1861) was a member of the Metaphysical Club in the early 1870s with William James, Charles Peirce, and other Cambridge intellectuals, where he heard Peirce expound his pragmatism. Holmes, later a Supreme Court Justice, is regarded as the first legal pragmatist who understood the law in terms of the practical consequences of the judicial system. Du Bois (Ph.D. Harvard 1895, professor of economics and history, and later chair of the sociology department at Atlanta University) became the first African American to receive a Harvard Ph.D., having studied with William James. His social philosophy and political activism is often classified as pragmatic in spirit.
Pragmatism continued to flourish at Harvard University, home to two of the most prominent pragmatists active during the mid-20th Century: Clarence I. Lewis (Ph.D. Harvard 1910, professor at Harvard), and Willard V. O. Quine (Ph.D. Harvard 1932, professor at Harvard). The philosophy department produced many more contributors to the pragmatic tradition, including Alain L. Locke (Ph.D. Harvard 1918, professor at Howard University), Wilbur H. Long (Ph.D. Harvard 1927, professor at University of Southern California), Paul Weiss (Ph.D. Harvard 1929, professor at Yale University), Harold N. Lee (Ph.D. Harvard 1930, professor at Tulane University), Otis H. Lee (Ph.D. Harvard 1930, professor at Vassar College), Donald W. Meiklejohn (Ph.D. Harvard 1936, professor at Syracuse University), David Savan (M.A. Harvard 1939, professor at University of Toronto), Thelma Z. Lavine (Ph.D. Radcliffe College 1939, professor at George Mason University), Samuel S. S. Browne (Ph.D. Harvard 1944, professor at University of Cincinnati), Robert E. Dewey (Ph.D. Harvard 1949, professor at University of Nebraska), Richard S. Robin (Ph.D. Harvard 1957, professor at Mount Holyoke College), John F. Boler (Ph.D. Harvard 1960, professor at University of Washington), William D. Stine (Ph.D. Harvard 1969, professor at Wayne State University), and Roy C. Weatherford (Ph.D. Harvard 1972, professor at University of South Florida).
Morton G. White (Ph.D. Columbia 1943, professor at Harvard) and Israel Scheffler (Ph.D. Pennsylvania 1952, professor at Harvard) promoted interest in pragmatism through philosophy and philosophy of education. In 1976 Hilary Putnam (Ph.D. UCLA 1951) arrived at Harvard. Recent graduates include Karen Hanson (Ph.D. Harvard 1980, professor at Indiana University, Bloomington), Henry S. Richardson (Ph.D. Harvard 1986, professor at Georgetown University), Miriam Solomon (Ph.D. Harvard 1987, professor at Temple University), Jerome P. Soneson (Ph.D. Harvard 1990, professor at University of Northern Iowa), James Conant (Ph.D. Harvard 1991, professor at University of Chicago), Harvey J. Cormier (Ph.D. Harvard 1993, professor at SUNY at Stony Brook), and David C. Lamberth (Ph.D. Harvard 1994, professor at Harvard Divinity School).
Scheffler retired in 1992, and Putnam
retired in 2000. Peter Godfrey-Smith has taught at Harvard since 2003 and
includes pragmatism among his interests.
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Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) Arisbe: Home of the Peirce Telecommunity by Joseph Ransdell Digital Encyclopedia of Charles S. Peirce and Dictionary of Peirce's Terms The Peirce Edition Project -- Nathan Houser, Director "What Pragmatism Is" by C. S. Peirce, 1905 |
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William James (1842-1910) William James website by Frank Pajares William James Papers at Harvard University Library William James article by Russell Goodman William James by Garth Kemerling |
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Josiah Royce (1855-1916)
Josiah Royce article by Kelly Parker The Basic Writings of Josiah Royce by Fordham University Press |
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Horace M. Kallen (1882-1974) The Legacy of Horace M. Kallen, ed. Milton R. Konvitz (1987) The Horace M. Kallen Papers at the American Jewish Archives |
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Alain L. Locke (1886-1954) Alain Leroy Locke website at Howard University The Philosophy of Alain Locke, ed. Leonard Harris. Temple UP (1991). |
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Clarence I. Lewis (1883-1964) C. I. Lewis page by John Shook C. I. Lewis article by Eric Dayton |
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Willard van Orman Quine (1908-2000) W. V. Quine by Douglas B. Quine The Quinology Site by Heikki Koskinen Interview with Quine by Yasuhiko Tomida (1992) |
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Hilary Putnam (1926- ) Hilary Putnam website by Alberto Gazzola Hilary Putnam bibliography by John Shook |