Genealogical Pragmatism: How History Matters for Foucault and Dewey

Journal of the Philosophy of History, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 533-56, 2011

29 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2012

Date Written: October 24, 2011

Abstract

This article offers the outlines of a historically-informed conception of critical inquiry herein named genealogical pragmatism. This conception of critical inquiry combines the genealogical emphasis on problematization featured in Michel Foucault’s work with the pragmatist emphasis on reconstruction featured in John Dewey’s work. The two forms of critical inquiry featured by these thinkers are not opposed, as is too commonly supposed. Genealogical problematization and pragmatist reconstruction fit together for reason of their mutual emphasis on the importance of history for philosophy. In so fitting together they repair crucial deficits in both traditions as they currently stand on their own (namely, genealogy’s normative deficit and pragmatism’s excessive instrumentalism). The resulting conception of critical inquiry as simultaneously problematizational and reconstructive is offered as a first step toward a crucial philosophical task we face today: articulating normativity without foundations.

Keywords: genealogy, pragmatism, Michel Foucault, John Dewey, historiography, methodology, normativity

Suggested Citation

Koopman, Colin, Genealogical Pragmatism: How History Matters for Foucault and Dewey (October 24, 2011). Journal of the Philosophy of History, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 533-56, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2166427

Colin Koopman (Contact Author)

University of Oregon ( email )

1280 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
227
Abstract Views
1,055
Rank
244,403
PlumX Metrics