Pragmatism: A Guide for the Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed)

The American philosophical tradition known as "pragmatism" began with an 1878 article by Charles Sanders Peirce titled, "How to Make Our Ideas Clear". Given the title of this seminal article, I've always found it somewhat ironic that most of the books and articles I've had the opportunity to read about pragmatism have been quite abstruse, and anything but clear. I expect works on Continental philosophy, analytic philosophy, or linguistic philosophy to be rather dense and esoteric; but if any philosophical tradition ought to be discussed in plain, easy-to-understand language, it really ought to be pragmatism, don't you think? After all, pragmatism is supposed to be the "anti-philosophical" philosophy -- a philosophy for practical-minded thinkers who are more interested in problem solving than navel gazing. Aren't philosophers in the pragmatist tradition supposed to be trying to bring some much-needed clarity to the sorts of issues that affect the lives of real people rather than debating arcane questions that only philosophers care about? So why is it that most scholarly books and articles about pragmatism are virtually unintelligible to anyone who doesn't have an advanced degree in philosophy? As someone who actually has a lot of respect for the pragmatist philosophical tradition, this is the one thing that has annoyed me the most about most of the books I've read on the subject.But this book is the exception. It is refreshingly easy to read and understand. One might even say that it takes a "pragmatic" approach to the discussion of the core ideas of pragmatism, by making those ideas clear. If I had to recommend just one book to anyone who wants to learn what pragmatism is all about, this is the book I'd have to recommend. I was very impressed with its contents, and very pleased with how much clarity it brought to the subject. If the other books in Continuum's "Guides for the Perplexed" series are anywhere near as good as this one, then I look forward to reading many more of them.

Takes an honest, not dumbed-down stab at explaining a complex subject -- a philosophy born of 3 minds (Pierce, James, Dewey), not one.

Arrived very quickly! Completely satisfied!