The ambiguity of norms. Steps towards a new pragmatic anthropology

Journal title PARADIGMI
Author/s Rosa M. Calcaterra
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2016/3
Language English Pages 16 P. 87-102 File size 177 KB
DOI 10.3280/PARA2016-003006
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The paper aims at indicating the relevance of the issue of normativity for the construction of a "new" philosophical anthropology focused on the pragmatic criteria embedded with classical pragmatism, late Wittgenstein’s philosophy, and neo-pragmatism alike. In particular, their common project of putting aside the traditional foundationalism will be considered in order to checking whether and how is it possible to picture an image of the human being that eludes the narrow path of traditional metaphysics without however falling prey of a theoretical outlook fostering epistemic and ethical skepticism. Accordingly, the paper concentrates on R. Rorty’s "linguistic pragmatism" since it allows to tackle some pivotal questions about the philosophical-anthropological pragmatist and Wittgenstein’s orientation. In particular, the following two intertwined questions will be addressed: (1) what is the anthropologically relevant point in Rorty’s attempt to shift the very focus of pragmatist philosophy from the concept of experience to that of language? (2) Which kind of anthropological contribution should we grant to his defense of contingentism as against transcendentalism/metaphysics, and specifically to the theme of the change in vocabularies?

Keywords: Normativity, Pragmatic antropology, Rorty, Wittgenstein, Contingentism.

  1. Baggio G. (2015). La mente bio-sociale. Filosofia e psicologia in G. H. Mead, Pisa: Edizioni ETS.
  2. Bernstein R.J. (2010). The pragmatic turn. Cambridge UK: Polity Press.
  3. Brandom R.B. (2011). Perspectives on pragmatism. Classical, recent & contemporary. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  4. Calcaterra R.M. (2003). Pragmatismo: i valori dell’esperienza. Letture di Peirce, James, Mead. Roma: Carocci.
  5. Calcaterra R.M. (2014). The linguistic world. Rorty’s aesthetic meliorism. In: Koczanowicz L., ed. Beauty, responsibility, and politics. Ethical and political consequences of pragmatist aesthetics. New York-Amsterdam: Rodopi: 93-109.
  6. Calcaterra R.M. (2015a). Reality in practice. Esercizi filosofici, 10, 1: 36-153.
  7. Calcaterra R.M. (2015b). Constructing on contingency: William James from biology to ethics and politics. Cognitio: Revista de Filosofia, 16, 2: 219-232.
  8. Dewey J. (1925). Experience and nature. In The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953, ed. by Jo Ann Boydston, Vol. 1. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981.
  9. Dewey J. (1938). Logic: the theory of inquiry. In: The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953, ed. by Jo Ann Boydston, vol. 12. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986 (LW).
  10. Dreon R. (2014). Dewey on language. Elements for a non-dualistic approach. In: Hildebrand D., ed. Language or experience. Charting pragmatism’s course for the 21st century. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, 6, 2: 109-124.
  11. Frega R. (2015). The normative structure of the ordinary. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, VII, 1:54-76.
  12. Hildebrand D. (2011). Could experience be more than a method? Dewey’s practical starting point. In: Frega R., ed. Pragmatist epistemologies. Lanham: Lexington: 41-60.
  13. Hildebrand D., ed. (2014). Language or experience. Charting pragmatism’s course for the 21st century. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, 6, 2.
  14. James W. (1890). The principles of psychology, Volume I. In: Burkhardt F. H., Bowers F., Skrupskelis I. K., eds. The works of William James, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1981.
  15. James W. (1907). Pragmatism, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1975 (trad. it.: Pragmatismo, a cura di S. Franzese. Milano: Nino Aragno Editore, 2007).
  16. James W. (1909). The meaning of truth, Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1975 (trad. it.: Il significato della verità. Una prosecuzione di pragmatismo. Torino: Nino Aragno Editore, 2010).
  17. Koopman C. (2011). Rorty’s linguistic turn. Why (more than) language matters to philosophy. Contemporary Pragmatism, 8, 1: 61-84.
  18. Marchetti G. (2013). Fatti e valori della conoscenza. Fine di una dicotomia. In: Marchetti G. (a cura di). La contingenza dei fatti e l’oggettività dei valori. Milano-Udine: Mimesis: 11-38.
  19. Marchetti S. (2016). Brandom and pragmatism. Remarks on a still open question. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 24, 1: 29-139, DOI: 10.1080/09672559.2015.1129738
  20. Margolis J. (2014). Richard Rorty contra Rorty and John Dewey. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, VI, 2: 91-108.
  21. Peirce Ch. S. (1877). The fixation of belief. In: Hartshorne C. and Weiss P., eds. The collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Volume 5: Pragmatism and pragmaticism, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1934 (CP).
  22. Peirce Ch. S. (1934). A survey of pragmaticism. In: Hartshorne C. and Weiss P., eds. The collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Volume 5: Pragmatism and pragmaticism, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press (CP).
  23. Pippin R. (1999). Modernism as a philosophical problem. On the dissatisfactions of European high culture, Oxford: Blackwell.
  24. Rorty R. (1982). Consequences of pragmatism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press (trad. it.: Conseguenze del pragmatismo. Milano: Feltrinelli, 1986).
  25. Rorty R. (1989). Contingency, irony, and solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  26. Rorty R. (1996). Anti-authoritarianism in epistemology and ethics. Ferrater Mora Lectures at the University of Girona (Spain).
  27. Rorty R. (1999). Education as socialization and as individualization. Philosophy and Social Hope, London: Penguin.
  28. Rorty R. (2000). Response to Bjorn Ramberg. In: Brandom R., ed. Rorty and his critics. Malden: Blackwell.
  29. Shusterman R. (20002). Pragmatist aesthetics. Living beauty, rethinking art. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.
  30. Wittgenstein L. (1953). Philosophische Untersuchungen. Philosophical investigations, ed. by G.E.M. Anscombe and R. Rhees, Oxford: Blackwell (trad. it.: R. Piovesan, M. Trinchero, a cura di. Ricerche filosofiche, Torino: Einaudi, 1999).
  31. Wittgenstein L. (1974). On certainty, ed. by G.E.M. Anscombe and G.H. von Wright. Oxford: Blackwell.

Rosa M. Calcaterra, The ambiguity of norms. Steps towards a new pragmatic anthropology in "PARADIGMI" 3/2016, pp 87-102, DOI: 10.3280/PARA2016-003006