Essays on Pragmatic Naturalism

This collection of four essays argues that pragmatic naturalism provides the most promising way of overcoming the puzzles and controversies of recent philosophy. Pragmatic naturalism maintains that philosophical controversies arise from attempts to extend the scopes of the principal forms of specialized discourse used in the sciences and religion, and in interpretations and evaluations of the arts, beyond their proper boundaries. By relating these specialized forms to everyday conversation, pragmatic naturalism provides the basis for a philosophical system in which these controversies can be resolved. The first essay focuses on the discourse level of signs, the level of sign use and interpretation that is most distinctively human and occupies our waking lives. The remaining three essays apply the central ideas of Essay I to issues raised in the philosophy of religion, aesthetics, and philosophy of education.