Pragmaticism among the pragmatists: a brief history and future prospects

Abstract

This essay revisits the historical circumstances and philosophical developments that motivated Charles Peirce’s decision to distinguish his own philosophy as a form of “pragmaticism” from the pragmatism of contemporaries like William James and F.C.S. Schiller; it also underscores the continuity between Peirce’s thought and Josiah Royce’s later deliberations. Such a historical survey, albeit quite brief, sets the stage for a discussion of how pragmaticism might prove to be of contemporary and future relevance, especially for inquiries in philosophical theology and the philosophy of religion.