Routledge Pragmatic Encounters (Routledge Studies in American Philosophy)

Richard J. Bernstein is a leading exponent of American pragmatism and one of the foremost philosophers of the twentieth century. In this collection he takes a pragmatic approach to specific problems and issues to demonstrate the ongoing importance of this philosophical tradition. Topics under discussion include multiculturalism, political public life, evil and religion. Individual philosophers studied are Kant, Arendt, Rorty, Habermas, Dewey and Trotsky. Each of the sixteen essays, many of which are published here for the first time, offers a way of bridging contemporary philosophical differences. This book will be of interest to scholars of philosophy and those researching social and political theory. Review "This book offers a selection of the papers that Richard J. Bernstein has written or given over the past 10 years or so. Together they offer an appealing picture of what he calls his 'engaged fallibilistic pluralism,' a pluralism that stems from the American pragmatists and is enriched by 'encounters' with, among others, Arendt, Gadamer, Habermas, Rorty and Taylor . . . Bernstein is always concerned to find his own common ground with the thinkers he 'encounters.' His interest is in discovering what we can take away from a thinker rather than locating where he or she might have failed . . . Pragmatic Encounters is a generous book and a pleasure to read."― Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews About the Author Richard J. Bernstein is Vera List Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research, USA