Pragmatism, Pluralism, and World Hypotheses

Philosophy and Rhetoric 48 (3):266-291 (2015)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the ongoing debate between pluralistic and monistic approaches to dealing with critical disagreement. I return to the theory of world hypotheses advanced by Stephen C. Pepper, an understudied figure in aesthetics and pragmatism, to enunciate a version of pluralism that centers on the nature of critical evidence and its functioning in social settings of argument. I argue that Pepper's expansive philosophy holds interesting implications for what can be called the metaphysics of criticism, a point missed by partisans of standard views of pluralism and monism. Building on his analysis of equally autonomous world hypotheses, this study enunciates an explicit notion of rhetorical pluralism that goes beyond simple relativism. This account can be labeled “evidentiary pluralism,” since it internalizes standards for evaluation to specific worldviews and recognizes their changeable nature in the context of critical disagreement.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Why Pragmatists Cannot Be Pluralists.Robert Talisse - 2005 - Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 41 (1):101 - 118.
Environmental Pragmatism and Bioregionalism.Kelvin J. Booth - 2012 - Contemporary Pragmatism 9 (1):67-84.
Deflationism, Pluralism, Expressivism, Pragmatism.Simon Blackburn - 2013 - In Nikolaj Jang Lee Linding Pedersen & Cory D. Wright (eds.), Truth and Pluralism: Current Debates. Oxford University Press. pp. 263.
Still Searching for a Pragmatist Pluralism.Robert B. Talisse & Scott F. Aikin - 2005 - Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 41 (1):145 - 160.
Pragmatism and Political Pluralism.Michele Marsonet - 2009 - European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 1 (1):92-99.
Perspectives on pragmatism: classical, recent, and contemporary.Robert Brandom - 2011 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Charles Peirce's Pragmatic Pluralism.Sandra B. Rosenthal - 1994 - State University of New York Press.
Pragmatism and East-Asian Thought.Richard Shusterman - 2004 - Metaphilosophy 35 (1-2):13-43.
Rescher and Objective Pragmatism.Cheryl Misak - 2005 - Contemporary Pragmatism 2 (2):25-33.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-09-01

Downloads
13 (#886,512)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Scott R. Stroud
University of Texas at Austin

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity.Richard Rorty - 1989 - The Personalist Forum 5 (2):149-152.
Consequences of Pragmatism.Richard Rorty - 1984 - Erkenntnis 21 (3):423-431.
Validity in interpretation.E. D. Hirsch - 1967 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 160:493-494.
The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Geneaology of Pragmatism.Cornel West - 1990 - Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 26 (3):373-384.

View all 29 references / Add more references