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Science and Politics Between Domesticated and Radicalized Pragmatism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Roberto Mangabeira Unger*
Affiliation:
School of Law Harvard University

The argument

This paper introduces a distinction between two understandings of the pragmatic tradition: domesticated and radicalized pragmatism. The main difference between these two views concerns the feasibility and moral legitimacy of a radical critique of an existing practice such as science, politics, and so on. It is argued that domesticated pragmatism, with its emphasis on local rather than global perspective, has led to trivialization and degeneration of self-reflective critique. Without rejecting pragmatism as such, this paper urges a reinterpretation of this tradition so as to make room for more thorough forms of critique of both science and social practice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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