ABSTRACT
While a consequence of the American preoccupations with business and religion (as Richard Hofstadter [1962] has documented), the closure of complicated conversation in the current regime of power can also be traced to American pragmatism as well. John Dewey’s pragmatist predecessor-William James-was, David Simpson (2002, 98) reminds us, “consequence oriented,” concerned with the “practical cash value” of experience. The signi cance of experience-of thought, action, and event-becomes its effect on a particular situation. As Simpson (2002, 98-99) notes, James’ “faith in instrumentalism” provided a “green light” for applied social science with its emphasis upon measuring outcomes quantitatively.
