Michael Bacon, Pragmatism: An Introduction. Oxford: Polity Press, 2012. 224pp. Paper ISBN: 978-0-745-64665-7.

Abstract

Michael Bacon, Pragmatism: An Introduction. Oxford: Polity Press, 2012. 224pp. Paper ISBN: 978-0-745-64665-7.The questions of level, scope and approach confront any to a complex tradition of thought. With such a broad target in view, difficult decisions about what to focus on, how to organize it and what depth is required immediately arise. Further, academic marketability now demands a multipurpose introduction. There is a persistent trend within introductory guides to broad literatures to posit themselves as useful and intended for both ushering undergraduates into the area and contributing to current debates on the state of the discipline.Such concerns only multiply for a tradition like pragmatism, a persistent minority in the philosophical world both in the country of its origin and (to an extreme degree) in the wider philosophical world. Pragmatism, for many years, has been in the contradictory situation of being divided between self-enclosed dialogues and wider campaigns of self-justification. Pragmatism tends towards ghettoization (internally and externally imposed), and it also lives under the very real and constant obligation to justify itself in those wider philosophical circles. As such, introductory texts, for it, bear a unique significance (and responsibility). They can be among the few that students and researchers outside of the tradition ever actually encounter. Seldom do they actually live up to this obligation. However, Michael Bacon's recent Pragmatism: An Introduction successfully balances these responsibilities. It manages to serve as both an accessible introduction to a complex tradition while also offering a unique perspective thereon that explores new trends and developments. Further, perhaps most importantly, it attempts to illustrate the relevance of for philosophy in general. This, of course, does not mean that there are no concerns around how Bacon does this and what choices he makes, but we will return to these after a brief overview of the book.The central structuring claim in this book is that, pragmatism is best viewed not as a set of doctrines but rather as a tradition of thought (2). For Bacon, is, specifically, a living tradition with a complex development and contemporary conversation and his account is an attempt to illustrate that progression with a clear emphasis on its contemporary relevance. This is important because of what he situates himself against. Bacon opposes his account of to the dominant eclipse narrative. Identified by Robert Talisse, this account holds that after the establishment and rise of through the work of Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey, fell out of discussion during the mid-twentieth century hegemony of Analytic philosophy. On this understanding, it is only with Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979) that re-entered the philosophical world. For Talisse, some version of this narrative makes it into most works on (Talisse 2007, chap. 7). To counter this, Bacon's strategy, is to focus on the development of through its central themes (what these are and the strength of his choices is addressed below). Importantly, he explores those themes through a series of figures, some of whom were not self-declared pragmatists, in order to argue that pragmatist themes have been central to twentieth century philosophy despite often not being associated with avowed pragmatists (viii). Many of the figures Bacon chooses to focus on are, in fact, either only partially associated with (e.g. Jurgen Habermas and Richard J. Bernstein) or denied association with it altogether (e.g. Donald Davidson). This unveiling of pragmatist themes and ideas outside the canon is an important, and in Bacon, well-argued contribution to that project of self-justification previously mentioned.Consequently, Bacon's account is chronological without being historical. …