Back Issues
Issue 43
October/November 2003
EDITORIAL
Let’s Be Pragmatic!
by Rick Lewis
NEWS
AMERICAN PRAGMATISM
An Introduction to Classic American Pragmatism
Raymond Pfeiffer, who edited this issue, takes a look at the scope of the Pragmatic tradition.
Charles Sanders Peirce: The Architect of Pragmatism 
Cornelis de Waal on the man and his ideas.
Peirce and Sartre on Consciousness and the Ego
David Boersema describes how two very different thinkers were on the trail of similar ideas about the nature of consciousness.
Dewey and the Democratic Way of Life
Kevin S. Decker on John Dewey’s unique political contribution.
Richard Rorty’s Pragmatic Patriotism
Carol Nicholson on the need for a different kind of national pride.
Art & Science Reconciled
Nikolaos Gkogkas on the aesthetics of Nelson Goodman.
OTHER ARTICLES
Irrefutable Ethics
Richard Taylor on the intractable beliefs people hold about how we should behave.
The British Philosophical Association
David Evans on the creation of a new society for Britain’s nine-to-five thinkers.
Heavenly Thoughts
John Donnelly explores a whole tangle of difficulties with the concept of heaven.
The 21st World Congress of Philosophy
Every five years, philosophers from around the globe gather to drink coffee and swap ideas. Philosophy Now’s Anja Steinbauer and Rick Lewis were there.
OBITUARIES
Donald Davidson (1917-2003)
by Anna Sherratt
INTERVIEWS
Richard Rorty
Richard Rorty is perhaps the best-known living philosopher in the Pragmatic tradition, and one of the most talked-about thinkers of the present day. He is a philosophy professor at Stanford University. Giancarlo Marchetti chatted with him about his ideas and his hopes.
LETTERS
Opinions on Learning and Evaluating, Minds and Memories, Pipe Dreams, and more...
COLUMNS
Dear Socrates
Our celebrity columnist answers readers’ questions.
Moral Moments: We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident
by Joel Marks
BOOKS
The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism
Les Reid on a companion to Postmodernism which, rather unpostmodernly, gives a clear account of the historical facts of its subject matter.
Descartes’s Method of Doubt by Janet Broughton
Harry Bracken frets about Janet Broughton’s non-historical book on Descartes’ ideas.
FILMS
The Dancer Upstairs
John Malkovich has made a clever movie about the hunt for a fat, cardigan-wearing philosophy professor with blood on his hands. Rich Guilfoyle watches The Dancer Upstairs.
SHORT STORY
Affairs of Heart & Affairs of State
Philosophers have a problem with truth; but what about truth-telling? Peter Cave publishes some correspondence, recently re-discovered, concerning a long-forgotten political scandal. For the sake of brevity, incidental material in the letters has been excluded. Now, how do you tell people that you are telling them the truth?