Module description
This module introduces students to the philosophical tradition of American Pragmatism, which until very recently has been marginal with respect to mainstream contemporary anglophone philosophy, though its ideas and themes have been regaining prominence in the new fields of ‘conceptual ethics’ and ‘pragmatic/moral encroachment’ in epistemology. In the module we will read not only the so-called ‘classical’ American Pragmatists—Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey—but also women and African American philosophers who, around the same time, were both working out related ideas in writing and applying them in social work and activism: Jane Addams, Anna Julia Cooper, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Alain LeRoy Locke.
Assessment details
Summative assessment: Essay, 3500 words (100%)
Formative assessment: Essay, 2500 words
Educational aims & objectives
This module aims to introduce students to topics and thinkers outside the standard canon of analytic philosophy. This particular version of the module aims to convey an understanding of the American Pragmatist tradition, including its origins, central thinkers, motivations, main themes, and practical applications of its theories on matters of politics, education, gender, race, and scientific inquiry.
Learning outcomes
Students who complete the module will be able to:
- Describe the philosophical content of movements outside the mainstream of analytic philosophy
- Explain the significance of philosophical works within their historical, intellectual, and cultural context
- Analyse the use of language and argument in historical philosophical texts
- Relate different traditions to one another historically and philosophically
Teaching pattern
One weekly one-hour lecture and one weekly one-hour seminar over 10 weeks.
Suggested reading list
- Peirce, C.S. ‘The Fixation of Belief’ and ‘How to Make Our Ideas Clear’.
- James, William. (1897) The Will to Believe and Other Popular Essays in Philosophy.
- James, W. (1907) Pragmatism.
- Addams, Jane. (1902) Democracy and Social Ethics.
- Lemert, C. and E. Bhan (eds.), The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1998.
- Dewey, John. (1929) The Quest for Certainty.
- Harris, L. (ed.), The Philosophy of Alain Locke: Harlem Renaissance and Beyond. Temple University Press, 1989.
- Du Bois, W.E.B. (1940) Dusk of Dawn.
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