Rising concerns among scholars about the intellectual and cultural foundationsof democracy have led to a revival of interest in the American philosophicaltradit... » 

Rising concerns among scholars about the intellectual and cultural foundationsof democracy have led to a revival of interest in the American philosophicaltradition of pragmatism. In this book Hans Joas shows how pragmatism can linkdivergent intellectual efforts to understand the social contexts of humanknowledge individual freedom and democratic culture.Along with pragmatisms impact on American sociology and social research from1895 to the 1940s Joas traces its reception by French and German traditionsduring this century. He explores the influences of pragmatismoftenmisunderstoodon Emile Durkheims sociology of knowledge and on Germanthought with particularly enlightening references to its appropriation byNazism and its rejection by neoMarxism. He also explores new currents ofsocial theory in the work of Habermas Castoriadis Giddens and Alexanderfashioning a bridge between Continental thought American philosophy andcontemporary sociology he shows how the misapprehension and neglect ofpragmatism has led to systematic deficiencies in contemporary social theory.From this skillful historical and theoretical analysis Joas creates a powerfulcase for the enduring legacy of Peirce James Dewey and Mead for socialtheorists today. «