Cheryl Misak offers a strikingly new view of the development of philosophy in the twentieth century. Pragmatism, the home-grown philosophy of America, thinks of truth not as a static relation between a sentence and the believer-independent world, but rather, a belief that works. The founders of pragmatism, Peirce and James, developed this idea in more (Peirce) and less (James) objective ways. The standard story of the reception of American pragmatism in England is that Russell and Moore savaged James's theory, and that pragmatism has never fully recovered. An alternative, and underappreciated, story is told here. The brilliant Cambridge mathematician, philosopher and economist, Frank Ramsey, was in the mid-1920s heavily influenced by the almost-unheard-of Peirce and was developing a pragmatist position of great promise. He then transmitted that pragmatism to his friend Wittgenstein, although had Ramsey lived past the age of 26 to see what Wittgenstein did with that position, Ramsey would not have liked what he saw.

About the Author
Cheryl Misak is Professor of Philosophy, and former Provost, at the University of Toronto. She works on American Pragmatism, ethics, and the philosophy of medicine, and is the author of The American Pragmatists, Truth and the End of Inquiry, Truth, Politics, Morality: Pragmatism and Deliberation, and Verificationism: Its History and Prospects.

Reviews
Cheryl Misak's Cambridge Pragmatism is a key work for anyone who seeks to gain a deeper understanding of twentieth-century philosophy * Cornelis de Waal, Journal of the History of Philosophy *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198712077
Author Cheryl Misak
Format Hardback
Page Count 432
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 162mm * 23mm