ABSTRACT

Pragmatism is a humanist philosophy. In spite of the much-debated renaissance of pragmatism, however, a detailed discussion of the relationship between pragmatism and humanism is still a desideratum. It is difficult to understand the complexity of pragmatism without considering the significance of humanism. At least since the 1970s, humanism, mostly in its liberal version, has been vehemently attacked and criticized. In pragmatism, however, a particular understanding of humanism has persisted. Bringing literary studies, philosophy, and intellectual history together and establishing a transatlantic theoretical dialogue, Pragmatism and Poetic Agency endeavors to elucidate this persistence of humanism. Schulenberg continues the thought-provoking argument he developed in his previous two monographs by advancing the idea that one can only grasp the unique contemporary significance of pragmatism when one realizes how pragmatism, humanism, anti-authoritarianism, and postmetaphysics are interlinked. If one appreciates the implications and consequences of this link, then one is in a position to see pragmatism’s antifoundationalist and antirepresentationalist story of progress and emancipation as continuing the project of the Enlightenment.

chapter |15 pages

Introduction

part 1|82 pages

Friedrich Nietzsche and the Pragmatists

chapter 1|17 pages

“Only We Have Created the World that Concerns Man!”

Nietzsche, Naturalism, and the Idea of Creativity

chapter 2|15 pages

“The Humanistic State of Mind”

James and Nietzsche

chapter 3|17 pages

Knowing Is Doing, Knowing Is Creating

Dewey and Nietzsche

chapter 4|13 pages

“But the Answer to a Great Poem Is a Still Better Poem”

Rorty and Nietzsche

chapter 5|18 pages

Naturalizing Kant?

Constructivism and Pragmatism

part 2|41 pages

Pragmatism, Poetic Agency, and Race

chapter 6|19 pages

“This Craving, this Urge for Beauty”

The Female Black Dandy in Nella Larsen's Quicksand

chapter 7|20 pages

“Ah Wants tuh Utilize Mahself All Over”

Poetic Agency in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

part 3|69 pages

Theoretical Encounters

chapter 8|39 pages

Pragmatism, Marxism, and Humanism

chapter 9|28 pages

“All Anybody Ever Does with Anything Is Use It”

Edward Said, Richard Rorty, and the Task of Humanist Criticism

chapter |13 pages

Conclusion