Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vsgnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T11:21:40.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

34 - Realism, naturalism, and pragmatism

from 9 - The diversity of philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Cornelius Delaney
Edited by
Thomas Baldwin
Cornelius Delaney
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
Thomas Baldwin
Affiliation:
University of York
Get access

Summary

The reaction to nineteenth-century idealism took many forms. On the epistemological front several species of realism reasserted themselves while on the metaphysical stage a variety of naturalistic tempers made their appearances. In addition, pragmatism, in a guise that purported to transcend the terms of the traditional polemic, came into the ascendancy. While there clearly were major European versions of these various reactions to idealism, and more specifically British versions (Moore, Russell, and F. C. S. Schiller), the concerted reaction to idealism in terms of realism, naturalism, and pragmatism was a decidedly American phenomenon.

REALISMS

The most powerful American spokesperson for the philosophical perspective of idealism was Josiah Royce. From his position at Harvard his version of absolute idealism exerted considerable influence on American thought. The initial realist reaction to this idealist hegemony took a cooperative form when six philosophers (Ralph Barton Perry, Edwin Holt, William Pepperell Montague, Walter Pitkin, Edward Spaulding, and Walter Marvin) published in 1910 ‘A Program and First Platform of Six Realists’ followed in 1912 by a cooperative volume entitled The New Realism (Holt et al. 1912) for which each provided an essay. This volume gave rise to the designation ‘The New Realists’ for this group of six.

Although these six differed on many particulars, they did concur on several matters of philosophical style and epistemological substance that characterized their reaction to absolute idealism. Procedurally, they endorsed a cooperative and piecemeal approach to philosophical problems and they were constitutionally inclined to a closeness of analysis that would prepare the way for later philosophical tendencies. Substantively, they were in agreement on several epistemological stances that constituted the centrepieces of their ‘refutation of idealism’.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Philosophy 1870–1945 , pp. 449 - 460
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blau, Joseph (1952). Men and Movements in American Philosophy, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Cohen, Morris and Nagel, Ernest (1934). An Introduction to Logic and the Scientific Method, New York: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Cohen, Morris (1931). Reason and Nature: An Essay on the Meaning of Scientific Method, New York: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Cohen, Morris (1933). Law and the Social Order: Essays in Legal Philosophy, New York: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Delaney, C. F. (1969). Mind and Nature: A Study of the Naturalistic Philosophies of Cohen, Woodbridge, and Sellars, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Dewey, John (1922). Human Nature and Conduct, New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Dewey, John (1925). Experience and Nature, Chicago: Open Court.Google Scholar
Dewey, John (1927). ‘Half-Hearted Naturalism’, The Journal of Philosophy 24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewey, John (1938). Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Drake, Durant et al. (1920). Essays in Critical Realism: A Cooperative Study of the Problem of Knowledge, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Flower, Elizabeth and Murphy, Murray (1977). A History of Philosophy in America, 2 vols., New York: Capricorn Books.Google Scholar
Holt, Edwin et al. (1912). The New Realism: Cooperative Studies in Philosophy, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hook, Sidney (1927). The Metaphysics of PragmatismChicago: Open Court.Google Scholar
Hook, Sidney (1934). ‘What is Materialism?’ The Journal of Philosophy 24Google Scholar
Hook, Sidney (1944). ‘Is Physical Realism Sufficient?’ The Journal of Philosophy 41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krikorian, Y. H. (1944). Naturalism and the Human Spirit, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Kuklick, Bruce (1977). The Rise of American Philosophy, Cambridge Massachusetts 1860–1930, New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, C. I. (1918). A Survey of Symbolic Logic, Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, C. I. (1929). Mind and the World Order, New York: Charles Scribner’s.Google Scholar
Lewis, C. I. (1950). An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation, La Salle, IL: Open Court.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, A. D. (1930). The Revolt Against Dualism, Chicago: Open Court.Google Scholar
Mead, George Herbert (1934). Mind, Self and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mead, George Herbert (1938). The Philosophy of the Act, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mead, George Herbert (1959). The Philosophy of the Present, La Salle, IL: Open Court.Google Scholar
Miller, David (1973). George Herbert Mead: Self, Language and the World, Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Morris, C. W. (1937). Logical Positivism, Pragmatism and Scientific Empiricism, Paris: Herman.Google Scholar
Ryan, Alan (1995). John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism, New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Santayana, George (1905). The Life of Reason, 5 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s.Google Scholar
Santayana, George (1923). Skepticism and Animal Faith, New York: Charles Scribner’s.Google Scholar
Santayana, George (1925). ‘Dewey’s Naturalistic Metaphysics’, The Journal of Philosophy 22CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santayana, George (1927–40). The Realms of Being, New York: Charles Scribner’s.Google Scholar
Scheffler, Israel (1974). Four Pragmatists, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sellars, Roy Wood (1916). Critical Realism: A Study of the Nature and Conditions of Knowledge, Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Sellars, Roy Wood (1922). Evolutionary Naturalism, Chicago: Open Court.Google Scholar
Sellars, Roy Wood (1932). The Philosophy of Physical Realism, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sellars, Roy Wood (1943). ‘Dewey on Materialism’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 111Google Scholar
Sellars, Roy Wood (1944). ‘Does Naturalism Need Ontology?’ The Journal of Philosophy 41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sellars, Roy Wood (1944). ‘Is Naturalism Enough?’ The Journal of Philosophy 41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sprigge, T. L. S. (1995). Santayana, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Thayer, Henry S. (1968). Meaning and Action: A Critical History of American Pragmatism, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Tiles, J. E. (1988). Dewey, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Woodbridge, F. J. E. (1926). The Realm of Mind: An Essay on Metaphysics, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Woodbridge, F. J. E. (1937). Nature and Mind: Selected Essays, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×