A New Neo-Pragmatism: From James and Dewey to Foucault

Authors

  • Todd May Clemson University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i11.3205

Abstract

Michel Foucault's thought not only converges with a certain type of pragmatism; it can deepen our understanding of pragmatism. There is an ambivalence in pragmatist thought between an approach that privileges the question of: ”What works?” and ”How does it work?” The former misses the political idea that some practices don't just work, but work for one purpose or another. Foucault's pragmatism does not focus on what works, but instead utilizes the concept of practices as a unit of analysis, and then asks how they work. This reintroduces a political element that sometimes goes missing in pragmatist thought.

Author Biography

Todd May, Clemson University

Todd May is Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of Philosophy at Clemson University. He is the author of ten books, most of them concerned with recent Continental philosophy. His latest book is Contemporary Movements and the Thought of Jacques Rancière. He is currently working on a book on friendship in the neoliberal period.

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Published

2011-02-01

How to Cite

May, T. (2011). A New Neo-Pragmatism: From James and Dewey to Foucault. Foucault Studies, (11), 54–62. https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v0i11.3205

Issue

Number 11: February 2011: Foucault and Pragmatism

Section

Special Issue on Foucault and Pragmatism

License

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