University of Chicago Press Beyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists (Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy)

Review Beyond Realism and Antirealism packs a double punch. Mobilizing a meticulous study of early twentieth-century classical pragmatism, Hildebrand engages the key neopragmatic positions of Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. Then, driving his own thesis home, he offers what he terms Dewey's 'practical stance' as a corrective to the limitations of the linguistic turn.--Larry Hickman, Director, The Center for Dewey Studies, Southern Illinois University at CarbondaleDavid Hildebrand's attempt to restate Dewey's central message is intelligent, well-informed, and well-argued, as are his polemics against what he takes to be Putnam's and my own misunderstandings of Dewey.--Richard Rorty, Stanford UniversityIt is indeed ingratiating to discover a scholar who is not only aware of, but champions, the vital Deweyan conceptions of having vs. knowing, primary experience, and the centrality of inquiry.--Frank X. Ryan, Kent State UniversityPragmatism was 'revived' in the 1970s and 1980s and was led at once into philosophical dead ends that John Dewey had already skillfully dismantled. Now, David Hildebrand corrects the record; provides an informed, splendidly argued, indispensable part of the recovery of Dewey's analysis of realism--still hardly bettered by anyone today.--Joseph Margolis, Temple University Product Description Perhaps the most significant development in American philosophy in the late 20th century has been the extraordinary renaissance of pragmatism, marked most notably by the reformulations of the so-called ""neopragmatists"" Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. With pragmatism offering the allure of potentially resolving the impasse between epistemological realists and antirealists, analytic and continental philosophers, as well as thinkers across the disciplines, have been energized and engaged by this movement. In this volume Hildebrand asks two questions: first, how faithful are the neopragmatists' reformulations of classical pragmatism (particularly Deweyan pragmatism); and, second, and more significantly, can their neopragmatism work? About the Author David L. Hildebrand teaches philosophy at the University of Colorado at Denver.