Transcendental Pragmatisms

Abstract

In this article, I contend that there are at least two contemporary types of Kantian transcendental pragmatism: Sami Pihlstrom's naturalistic transcendental pragmatism and Josiah Royce's absolute pragmatism. Each one of these transcendental pragmatisms represents one side of the Kantian transcendental tradition. Pihlstrom's naturalistic transcendental pragmatism represents the side of the Kantian transcendental tradition that is familiar to most philosophers, namely, the transcendental inquiry into the conditions for the possibility of human experience. Royce's absolute pragmatism represents the other, more neglected, side of the Kantian transcendental tradition, namely, the transcendental analysis of the meaningfulness of moral, aesthetic, and religious experience, especially theistic religious experience. I contend that Royce's pragmatism is more representative of the Kantian transcendental tradition than is Pihlstrom's pragmatism.