ABSTRACT

This volume puts leading pragmatists in the philosophy of language, including Robert Brandom, in contact with scholars concerned with what pragmatism has come to mean for the law. Each contribution uses the resources of pragmatism to tackle fundamental problems in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of law, and social and political philosophy. In many chapters, the version of pragmatism deployed proves a fruitful approach to its subject matter; in others, shortcomings of the specific brand of pragmatism are revealed. The result is a clearer understanding of what pragmatism has meant and can mean across these tightly related philosophical areas. The book, then, is itself pragmatism in action: it seeks to clarify its unifying concept by examining the practices that centrally involve it.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

Some Varieties of Pragmatism

part I|156 pages

Semantic Pragmatism

section Section 1|98 pages

Semantic Pragmatism about Legal Discourse

chapter 1|21 pages

A Hegelian Model of Legal Concept Determination

The Normative Fine Structure of the Judges' Chain Novel

chapter 3|20 pages

Antipositivist Arguments from Legal Thought and Talk

The Metalinguistic Response *

chapter 5|17 pages

Responsibility and Causation

A Pragmatist View *

section Section 2|56 pages

Semantic Pragmatism about Other Forms of Normative Discourse

chapter 8|19 pages

Studying Genocide

A Pragmatist Approach to Action-Engendering Discourse

part II|134 pages

The American Pragmatist Tradition

section Section 3|62 pages

Democracy and Classical American Pragmatism

section Section 4|70 pages

Pragmatism in Contemporary American Jurisprudence

chapter 14|17 pages

Pragmatism without the “Fighting Tag”

Functional Realism in Holmes's Jurisprudence and Moral Philosophy

chapter 15|17 pages

Against Legal Pragmatism

Greenberg and the Priority of the Moral *