American Pragmatism

and Its Influence in East Asia

(美國實用主義及其在東亞的影響)

David Dennen
Lecture Outline
● Part 1
○ What is philosophy? Why philosophy?
○ What is Pragmatism?
○ History of Pragmatism
■ Charles Sanders Peirce and William James
■ Main ideas
■ Some other major pragmatist philosophers
● Part 2
○ Pragmatism in China
■ John Dewey and Hu Shih
Translating “Pragmatism”

實驗主義还是實用主義?
Philosophy (哲學) —
a waste of time (浪費時間)
or
a necessary part of life (生活的必要部分)?
What is philosophy (哲學)?
● Having a philosophy
○ A philosophy is a way of
thinking.
● Doing philosophy
○ Doing philosophy
improves how we think
(thinking about thinking).
What is philosophy (哲學)?
● For Plato (5th/4th century BCE),
philosophy involves
○ criticizing concepts or ideas (概念) in order to
discover or reveal their foundations;
○ discovering the true nature of reality (發現現實的
本色);
○ discovering the purpose of all things (發現一切的
目的), including human beings and human
societies.
What is philosophy (哲學)?
● Traditional branches of philosophy
○ Metaphysics (形而上學，玄學 )
■ The study of reality (現實)
○ Epistemology (認識論)
■ The study of knowledge (知識)
○ Value theory (ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, etc.)
■ The study of goodness (美德), beauty, justice (正義), etc.
○ Logic (邏輯學)
■ The study of reasoning or argumentation
What is Pragmatism (實用主義)?
● Also called experimentalism (實驗主義) or instrumentalism (工具主義)
● Practice-oriented
○ What is the relationship between thought and action?
○ What are the effects of ideas?
● A philosophy of problems
● A “scientific” or “experimental” philosophy
● Truth is what works
History of Pragmatism
● Started in the United States in the 1870s
● The Metaphysical Club (1871-1879)
● Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) and
William James (1842-1910)
○ First defined by Peirce; popularized by James
● Became “unfashionable” around the time of
World War II
● Rediscovered in the 1970s; rise of
Neopragmatism
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)
● Educated as a chemist (化學家); sometimes
employed as a scientist (科學家).
● Wrote about logic (邏輯學), mathematics,
semiotics (符號學), scientific experimentation
● Lived in difficult circumstances
○ Sometimes supported by William James
William James (1842-1910)
● Brother of famous novelist Henry James
● Spent time in Europe as a child
● First studied medicine
○ Spent time doing research in the Amazon
● Later studied philosophy and psychology (心理學)
● “The Father of American Psychology”
○ First person to teach psychology in the United States
● Wrote about problems in psychology, philosophy,
and theology (神學)
Influences on Peirce and James
● German Idealism
○ Kant, Hegel
● British empiricism
● Darwin
The Central Ideas of Pragmatism
● Peirce, “How to Make Our Ideas
Clear” (如何使我們的想法清楚) (1878)
○ Beliefs/ideas are rules for behavior
■ Do you believe the world is flat?
○ Our idea of something is our belief about its
possible effects. What difference does it
make?
○ Pragmatism is future oriented; it is about
predicting future possibilities.
Pragmatism and “Truth”
● “Truth” is a central concept of Western philosophy.
○ In classical philosophy, a statement that “corresponds to” (相稱；相類似) the world.
■ “The universe is mechanical” (宇宙是機械的 ) vs. “the universe is organic” (宇宙是有機)

“The cat is on the mat.”

“God exists.”
Important Pragmatists and Their Writings
● Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)
○ “How to Make Our Ideas Clear” (1878) (see《皮尔斯文选》
[2006])
● William James (1842-1910)
○ The Principles of Psychology (1890)
○ The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human
Nature (《宗教经验之种种 : 人性之研究》) (1902)
○ Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of
Thinking (《实用主义 : 一些旧思想方法的新名称 》) (1907)
Important Pragmatists and Their Writings
● John Dewey (1859-1952)
○ Experience and Nature (《經驗与自然》) (1925)
○ The Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of
Knowledge and Action (《确定性的寻求 : 关于知行关
系的研究》) (1929)
○ Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938)
○ 《杜威全集》 (复旦大学杜威与美国哲学硏究中心 组
译) (2010-2015)
Important Pragmatists and Their Writings
● Jane Addams (1860-1935)
○ Democracy and Social Ethics (1902)
● George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)
○ Mind, Self, and Society (《心靈,自我與社會》)
(1934)
Important Pragmatists and Their Writings
● Grace Andrus de Laguna (1878-1978)
○ Speech: Its Function and Development (1927)
● Alain LeRoy Locke (1885-1954)
○ “Values and Imperatives” (1935)
○ “Cultural Relativism and Ideological Peace”
(1944)
● Charles W. Morris (1901-1979)
○ Signs, Language, and Behavior (《指号、语言和
行为》) (1946)
Important Pragmatists and Their Writings
● Morse Peckham (1914-1993)
○ Man’s Rage for Chaos: Biology, Behavior, and the
Arts (1965)
○ Explanation and Power: The Control of Human
Behavior (1979)
● Leonard B. Meyer (1918-2007)
○ Emotion and Meaning in Music (《音乐的情感与意
义》) (1956)
Important Pragmatists and Their Writings
● Richard Rorty (1931-2007)
○ Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (哲學和自然之鏡 ) (1979)
○ Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (偶然、反讽与团结) (1989)
Pragmatism in China: Hu Shih (胡適)
● 1891-1962
● Lived in Taiwan as a child;
died in Taiwan
● 1938-1942: ROC’s
ambassador to the US
● 1958-1962: President of
Academia Sinica
● Buried near Academia Sinica
Pragmatism in China: Hu Shih (胡適)
● Received modern education in Shanghai
● Influenced by Darwin
○ His name comes from “survival of the fittest” (適者生存)
● 1910: Won a scholarship to study in the United States
○ 1910-1917: Lived in the US
● Degree in philosophy and literature from Cornell
University
● 1915: Read all of John Dewey’s works
● 1915: Transferred to Columbia University to study with
Dewey
● 1917: Completed dissertation and returned to China
Pragmatism in China: John Dewey
● Dewey was a former student of Charles Sanders Peirce.
● Well known for his writings and lectures on psychology, philosophy,
education, and democracy.
● 1918: Dewey was visiting west coast of US and decided to travel to Japan
● 1918: Dewey invited to China by Hu Shih and other Chinese students
● 1919: Hu gave lectures and wrote articles on
Pragmatism
● May 1, 1919: Dewey arrived in China
○ First foreign scholar formally invited to lecture in China
● May 4, 1919: Student revolt; beginning of May
Fourth Movement (五四運動)
Pragmatism in China: John Dewey
● Dewey represented an alternative to Confucianism;
represented modernization
○ An embodiment (化身) of science and democracy
● Visited eleven provinces in China
● Gave nearly 200 lectures to thousands of Chinese
○ Lectures translated by Hu Shih
● Popularly known as “Mr. Science” (賽先生) and “Mr.
Democracy” (德先生)
○ Names first applied by Chen Duxiu (陳獨秀)
● July 1921: Left China
Pragmatism in China: Dewey’s Teachings
● Scientific method (科學的方法) as a model for solving social, economic, or
political problems (experimentation)
○ Openness to new ideas
○ China should use its own cultural heritage instead of becoming
totally Western.
● Four forms of democracy
○ Political democracy
○ Civil democracy
○ Economic democracy
○ Social democracy
● Educational reform
○ Education is the basis for cultural change and democracy
○ Emphasis on experimentation, identifying and solving problems
Pragmatism in China
● Dewey’s influence in China declined after the beginning of the Chinese Civil
War (1927).
● Attempts at educational reform by Hu Shih and others were not very
successful.
● Dewey and Hu Shih were attacked by others with more extreme beliefs
(militarists, Marxists).
● Hu Shih was more comfortable as an intellectual than a politician.
● In the 1950s and 1960s, the Communist Party tried to erase the influence of
Dewey and Hu Shih.
Pragmatism in China
● Interest in Dewey increased again in the 1980s with the
“opening” of China.
● 2010-2015: Dewey’s complete writings translated into
Chinese.
● Hu Shih an important example of pragmatism in China
○ Failed to get political and educational change but had cultural impact

Dewey and Hu Shih c. 1938-1942