Neopragmatism

Neopragmatism, sometimes called linguistic pragmatism is a contemporary term for a philosophy which reintroduces many concepts from pragmatism. The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy (2004) defines "Neo-pragmatism" as "A postmodern version of pragmatism developed by the American philosopher Richard Rorty and drawing inspiration from authors such as John Dewey, Martin Heidegger, Wilfrid Sellars, Quine, and Jacques Derrida". It repudiates the notions of universal truth, epistemological foundationalism, representationalism, and epistemic objectivity. While traditional pragmatism focuses on experience, Rorty centers on language. It is a nominalist approach that denies that natural kinds and linguistic entities have substantive ontological implications. In Neopragmatism language is contingent on use, and meaning is produced by using words in familiar manners. The self is regarded as a "centerless web of beliefs and desires". Rorty denies that the subject-matter of the human sciences can be studied in the same ways as we study the natural sciences. (Bunnin & Yu, 467)