Pragmatism: John Dewey and Richard Rorty
Winter 2011, Wednesday 10:00 - 11:30 AM

Steven Schroeder

TEXTS:

Cornel West. The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism. University of Wisconsin Press. 9780299119645.
John Dewey. Experience and Nature. Dover Publications. 9780486204710.
Richard Rorty. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton University Press. 9780691141329.

1/5: West, 1-111 ("The Emersonian Prehistory of American Pragmatism," "The Historic Emergence of American Pragmatism," and "The Coming-of-Age of American Pragmatism: John Dewey")
1/12: West, 112-239 (The Dilemma of the Mid-Century Pragmatic Intellectual," "The Decline and Resurgence of American Pragmatism: W.V. Quine and Richard Rorty," and "Prophetic Pragmatism: Cultural Criticism and Political Engagement")
1/19: Dewey, 1-120 ("Experience and Philosophic Method," "Existence as Precarious and as Stable," and "Nature, Ends and Histories")
1/26: Dewey, 121-207 ("Nature, Means and Knowledge" and "Nature, Communication, and Meaning")
2/2: Dewey, 208-297 ("Nature, Mind and the Subject" and "Nature, Life and Body-Mind")
2/9: Dewey, 298-437 ("Existence, Ideas and Consciousness" "Experience, Nature and Art," and "Existence, Value and Criticism") [Due to the snow day on 2/2, we'll pick up the discussion with p.208. If we need more time with Dewey, we can finish the discussion on the 23rd before turning to Rorty.]
2/16: full period (10:00-1:15) on Varieties of Religious Experience
2/23: full period (10:00-1:15) on Rorty, 1-127 (Part One: "Our Glassy Essence")
3/2: Rorty, 131-212 (Part Two: "Mirroring" -- "The Idea of a Theory of Knowledge" and "Privileged Representations")
3/9: Rorty, 213-311 (Part Two: "Mirroring" -- "Epistemology and Empirical Psychology" and "Epistemology and Philosophy of Language")
3/16: Rorty, 315-421 (Part Three: "Philosophy")
Page maintained by Steven Schroeder | updated 6 february 2011
contact: schroeder_at_uchicago.edu
The University of Chicago Graham School