ABSTRACT
The school has been the subject of two recent books, one by a well-known writer on cultural issues, Louis Menand, and the other by a highly regarded professor of philosophy, Nicholas Rescher. Both acknowledge the importance and influence of Pragmatism as a unique American school but are at sharp odds over its impact and the significance of its history. The tragedy proceeds in three acts: in the decay of the Pragmatic idea of meaning and the future of scientific knowledge, from Peirce to James; in the decline from an attempt to satisfy both the religious and scientific beliefs of humankind to a justification of a utilitarian social philosophy, from James to Dewey; and, in the last act, from a belief in progressive ideals justified by Pragmatic philosophy to a frank belief that truth is too elusive to be identified by any one person or any one belief system, from Dewey to Richard Rorty.
