Emil Visnovsky co-chair, Slovakia
Department of Philosophy and
History of Philosophy
Faculty of Arts
Comenius University
Šafárikovo nám. 6
818 01 Bratislava
Slovakia emil.visnovsky@uniba.sk
John Ryder co-chair, USA
Provost, American University of Malta, Triq Dom Mintoff Bormla, BML
1013, Malta jryder6682@gmail.com
In the several decades I have been giving talks abroad on pragmatism and
editing a quarterly in this area of scholarship, I have witnessed a remarkable
growth in interest in American philosophy outside the USA. Although even in the
1960s there was much more knowledge of the history of American philosophy among
non-American scholars than is commonly recognized (Germany, France, the Soviet
Union, Canada and Great Britain were notable examples), no one can doubt that
the publication in 1979 of Richard Rorty's Philosophy and the Mirror of
Nature accelerated this growth. One of the chief reasons that Rorty's work
greatly increased interest in pragmatism abroad was that his publications moved
pragmatist philosophy for the first time into several of America's most
prestigious universities. Only in the 1980s did pragmatism acquire a "bully
pulpit" in the most prestigious universities of a nation that economically,
militarily and culturally enjoyed global hegemony.
Although this hegemony is, for obvious reasons, troubling, it has led to
there being more scholars with expertise in pragmatism scattered around the
globe outside the U.S. than there are inside the country. The essays contributed
to this volume are impressive examples of this worldwide scholarship. The
organizers of the Central European Pragmatist Forum are especially to be
congratulated for nurturing pragmatist philosophy that is genuinely critical—
critical of pragmatism as well as of other philosophical outlooks.
Self-correction is in the spirit of classical pragmatism. My hope is that this
pragmatist correction will continue to be a mutual one between American
philosophers and pragmatists outside the U.S, that cultural imperialism will not
prevent American philosophers from learning as much from philosophers in other
countries as the latter learn from their American colleagues. Certainly we
Americans have much to learn from philosophers abroad. For example, philosophers
in Western, Central and Eastern Europe are more in touch with the worlds of
literature and the arts than philosophers in the U.S. Partly as a consequence of
that fact, in Europe philosophy is a far more powerful cultural force than it is
in the U.S. I urge our pragmatist brethren outside the U.S., including those
whose work is included in this book, to aid their American colleagues in
enriching the pragmatist tradition.
Peter H. Hare Professor Emeritus of Philosophy State University of New York at Buffalo
PREFACE
To begin to philosophize anew, within a new intellectual tradition, might be
as risky as it is advantageous. Pragmatism, having begun in the 19th century
cultural conditions of the "New World," was this position. It was a risky as
well as an advantageous attempt, and for the same reason: it lacked a direct
involvement in the intellectual history of the "Old World" while also attempting
to sidestep that history. However, what might have appeared to be insufficient
knowledge of the ancient and modern traditions, can now be reevaluated as a
great creative act. Pragmatism is a genuine creative philosophical act in
Western intellectual history because it has had a unique cultural opportunity to
look at ancient and modern Western philosophy from both the inside and the
outside. This is how human creativity works, and that is why non-Americans are
able to see pragmatism today from the outside as they attempt to see it from the
inside. Thus pragmatism, not having been involved in the Cartesian and Kantian
philosophy of the Enlightenment, has contributed new philosophical insights and
vocabularies. To philosophize at all is to use, and in some luckier cases to
form, a philosophical vocabulary in a new cultural situation and context, which
is a philosophical means as well as an end.
Today it is clear that the philosophy of pragmatism, this unique contribution
of American origin to world philosophy, has been revived within the last two
decades of the 20th century. There is a growing interest in pragmatism all over
the world, including Central and Eastern Europe. Today there are philosophers
and other writers and scholars working on pragmatism and within its paradigm not
only in the United States but also elsewhere. Apparently pragmatism has become
an international philosophical movement at the dawn of the new millennium.
The new intellectual situation in Central and Eastern Europe since the
breakdown of the old communist regimes has opened new vistas for philosophers
from this part of Europe which allow them to search for new influences and
identities. Pragmatism has become one of the new influences, which has led in
turn to the founding of the Central European Pragmatist Forum (CEPF),
established as an informal international group in 2000. For detailed information
and further developments visit the CEPF website at www.filozofia.sk/cepf.
This new intellectual situation has brought to the fore several new issues to
be explored: How is it possible for pragmatism to be adopted and/or accommodated
within very different cultural and intellectual contexts? Is there a place for
pragmatist philosophy within contemporary Central and Eastern European culture?
Is pragmatism somehow compatible with European cultural traditions and its
contemporary culture, and if so, to what extent? How, if at all, could
pragmatism enrich European culture? What new and valuable features can the new
pragmatism bring to European cultures? Can any sort of pragmatism be developed
in Central and Eastern Europe?
The present volume is a result of an effort to reflect on many of these
issues. Under the title "Pragmatism and Values," the First Central European
Pragmatist Forum conference convened from 29 May to 1 June 2000, in the Hotel
Academia of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Stara Lesna, Slovakia. The
conference consisted of a group of 30 specialists in pragmatism and American
philosophy, roughly half from the United States and half from Eastern Europe and
elsewhere. We came together to discuss pragmatist philosophy, its value and
contributions, its problems and shortcomings, and its potential place in
contemporary Central and Eastern Europe. The volume, which includes most of the
papers from the CEPF conference, contains a wide range of perspectives and
ideas, which taken together provide a picture of the multinational and
multicultural dialogue that began within the framework of the Stara Lesna
conference.
For the purposes of coherence and continuity we have organized the papers
into three sections. Thematically, however, they may be organized differently.
Some papers present a broad survey of pragmatism and its contemporary value
(Margolis, Visfiovsky, Ryder); others address the neopragmatism or postanalytic
pragmatism of Richard Rorty (Rockmore, Skinner, Rodriguez). The majority of the
papers address either historical issues or figures in pragmatism and American
philosophy, or they apply pragmatist concepts and methods to current theoretical
and practical questions.
It is not surprising that most of the papers deal either with historical
exploration or contemporary application, since both efforts are required as
pragmatism looks to make its way in Central and Eastern Europe. It is necessary
on the one hand to uncover pragmatism's background and historical antecedents,
both American and European. But perhaps more importantly, the value of
pragmatism in contemporary circumstances in the United States, Central and
Eastern Europe, or anywhere else, will depend on the work it can do. In light of
that point, it is fully appropriate for both European and American specialists
to apply pragmatism to culture, community, democracy, feminism, metaphor,
racism, aesthetics, and the environment, all explored in these pages. These
themes represent profound challenges for any society. If pragmatism can make
itself useful in addressing them in their Central and Eastern European context,
then it will have performed a valuable service indeed.
The CEPF was founded on two assumptions: that pragmatism and American
philosophy in general are rich intellectual traditions that can be valuably put
to work in Central and Eastern Europe, and that there is considerable value in
American and European specialists having the opportunity to spend several days
together to consider these questions together. A precursor meeting to the CEPF
conference was held two years prior, in 1998, in Karpacz, Poland, organized by
Beth Singer and Leszek Koczanowicz, which demonstrated the truth of the second hypothesis. The opportunity for American and European
specialists to spend time together was invaluable. The organization of the CEPF
and its first conference in Stara Lesna in 2000 confirmed that judgment. The
adequacy of the first assumption will be in the results of the work done, as
represented by the papers in this volume. Most of the papers delivered at the
conference are offered here, to advance the conversation between U.S.
specialists in American philosophy and their counterparts abroad.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the assistance provided during the First Annual Central
European Pragmatist Forum in Stara Lesna, Slovakia in June 2000, and in the
preparation of this volume. The Institute of Philosophy of the Slovak Academy of
Sciences provided a beautiful environment in the Tatra Mountains for the Forum
to meet, and the surroundings no doubt contributed to the success of the
meeting. Also, important assistance was provided by James Campbell, one of the
American members of Forum's Executive Board, in the preparation of the papers
for the volume. Finally, we are grateful to all those philosophers in Europe and
the United States whose commitment to the study of pragmatism and American
philosophy have been central to the success of this Forum, to the completion of
the present volume, and most importantly to the development of the core and
commitments of the American philosophical tradition.
