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A Conversation With Pragmatist & Political Philosopher Robert B. Talisse (Patreon)

Published:
2023-05-11 16:01:09
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

[shaming myself publicly for calling William James "James William" multiple times kms rip etc]

Robert B. Talisse has done copious academic work on pragmatism, democracy, and political polarization. 

He kindly donated his time to professionally advise me through the research I have been doing independently on pragmatism, as we walk through its main characters Charles Sanders Peirce, William James and John Dewey (and Richard Rorty). 

This is a more patient and educational walk through of pragmatism than my impassioned personal interpretation presented in my upcoming video [REDACTED].

We close out with his insights about politics, and the paradoxes involved in democracy, the difficulty of working with others. If there are many truths that work for different purposes, and we disagree on which truths are best, how do we work together?

If you're interested in Talisse's work, check out some of his public philosophy:

TED: Putting Politics In It's Place:  https://youtu.be/GVhiFTUbJno 

The Progress Network - Is Progress Possible? With Robert B. Talisse: https://youtu.be/EPpHxxwskVA 

Or read some of his latest works, like Overdoing Democracy [2019] or Why We Argue (And How We Should) [2014].

Files

A Conversation With Pragmatist Political Philosopher Robert B. Talisse

Shaming myself publicly for calling William James "James William" & "Williams" multiple times. Robert B. Talisse has done copious academic work on pragmatism, democracy, and political polarization. He kindly donated his time to talk me through the research that my team and I have been doing on pragmatism, walking through C.S. Pearce, William James, John Dewey, and Richard Rorty. This is a more careful and educational walk through the history and variations of pragmatism than my personal passionate interpretation presented in my video The Truth About Jordan Peterson. We close out with his insights about politics, and the paradoxes involved in democracy. If you're interested in Talisse's work, check out some of his public philosophy: TED: Putting Politics In It's Place: https://youtu.be/GVhiFTUbJno The Progress Network - Is Progress Possible? With Robert B. Talisse: https://youtu.be/EPpHxxwskVA Or read some of his latest works, like Overdoing Democracy (2019) or Why We Argue (And How We Should) [2014].

Comments

Trudy J

I'm almost 33 minutes in but I had a kind of transcendent experience listening to you guys talk about inquiry pragmatism and etc. A lot of what takes me out of religion is that it's often presented through the constraints of power. Truth as a weapon, as a force for my parents to dictate why being gay, why self expression of any kind that doesn't fit a cultural norm, is somehow keeping me from God. That kind of fuckery makes your relationship to the spiritual very hard to establish. But, even through nihilism one can rediscover God, as you mention. I experienced that a lot when I learned about Wicca through an ex. Believing it to be materially and empirically true wasn't the point, it was the practice and ritual. It's like transubstantiation, these are rituals that by having faith in, you allow yourself to act in ways that reflect your faith. Casting a spell to make you stronger is silly if you consider it in rote materiality, but if you treat it as a faith, as a commitment to doing things every day to BE stronger, you allow for a new way to interact with yourself and the world. It's creating practical personal uses out of an engagement with the spiritual. I think i fuck with spirituality the most when its not traditionalist. Listening to this feels like it's repairing my personal relationship with the spiritual and myself

Anonymous

The discussion on Rorty was really interesting! I think the overly dismissive way in which he invalids wholesale other philosophies is also deeply reflective in how we view our political opponents, looping into the latter quarter of the call. On another note, this interview with Cornell West on pragmatism got me started on the topic, and maybe is good follow-up material for this conversation! https://open.spotify.com/episode/6pk03EVHyeA0chpgeRX0Db?si=jIcsVmluSyKHEzIid_IuRA

Halley

I really enjoyed this, especially the discussion towards the end on philosophies of democracy and anarchism. For anyone else inspired by this I recommend reading about democratic confederalism and social ecology, as written about by Bookchin and Öcalan and put into practice in Rojava (AANES)

alicia
>>108478844

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was like 👀 okay cool could somebody please read Bookchin though 😭

Josh Foreman

I don't have a lot to say on this, other than sympathetic grunts. So I'll just say thanks for posting, I really enjoyed this a lot!

BAG

I wonder how many things I tell myself I believe, but don't, as they dont impact my actions. Can I truly believe something if it doesn't direct my actions? I haven't properly engaged in philosophy in 9 years and this was a breath of Dewey air. Feels so encompassing/relevant right now. I think it's funny this idea how some statements can be dismissed as meaningless as they don't have any predicative statements. Like stoners ramblings- "Onto something?❌ On something. ✅" Meaningless to those who can't feel the predictive statements, but they do have 'truth' according to the person if they act on it (ie. stop wearing poisonous suncream and start embracing the sun's beautiful non-toxic rays). I'm grateful for this environment to engage with these kinds of topic.