New Special Issue of Political Studies Review, 14 (1) 2016
Symposium on Pragmatism in Contemporary Political Theory
Guest editors: Michael Bacon and Clayton Chin

Contributors: Cheryl Misak, Scott F Aikin, Robert B Talisse, Colin Koopman, Matthew Festenstein and Neil Gascoigne

With contributions from some of the leading voices in pragmatist political thinking, this symposium examines pragmatism as a resource for thinking critically about some of the central questions in contemporary political theory. The recent return to pragmatism in political theory has confounded the critical consensus that emerged out of the 1990s. The dominant view here had pushed aside pragmatists as apologists for the status quo, whose work (typically represented by Richard Rorty) was understood to amount to a “politics of acquiescence.” The current surge in interest rejects this by explicitly politicizing pragmatism, examining its contribution to discussions of (amongst others) feminism, realist political theory, pluralism and democracy.

Articles:

1. Cheryl Misak, “Pragmatism and the Naturalist Project in Ethics and Politics: Lessons from Peirce, Lewis and Ramsey”
2. Scott F Aikin and Robert B Talisse, “Pragmatism and Pluralism Revisited”
3. Colin Koopman, “Unruly Pluralism and Inclusive Tolerance: The Normative Contribution of Jamesian Pragmatism to Non-ideal Theory”
4. Matthew Festenstein, “Pragmatism, Realism and Moralism”
5. Neil Gascoigne, “Changing Minds: Pragmatism and Feminism”