First, with all due respect, Diggins' *Promise* is an awful guide to  
pragmatism. May I suggest as an antidote Robert Westbrook's *John Dewey  
and American Democracy*? To the extent that we're getting pragmatism  
filtered through McCloskey via Rorty, I think we miss Dewey's radical,  
substantive democracy--the emphasis in Westbrook's work--and miss the  
sense in which Dewey's work presents a deep challenge to the liberalism  
of a Rorty or McCloskey. Dewey would have been dubious, at the least,  
about Rorty's radical public/private dichotomy.  
 
As far as whether modern economics is pragmatist, I think the answer is  
decidedly in the negative. Despite the superficial resemblance, Dewey's  
instrumentalism is worlds away from the instrumental rationality  
apotheosized in neoclassical economics. To get to the crux, here is  
Dewey, in his section of the *Ethics* (co-authored with John Tufts) "All  
voluntary action is a remaking of the self". A "science of choice" that  
took this insight of Dewey's at all seriously would be remade (and  
emphatically less "scientific") The challenge that Deweyan pragmatism  
potentially offers to the conception of reason and agency espoused by  
modern economics is perhaps best appreciated in, of all places, *Art as  
Experience*. 
 
On Wed, 22 Nov 1995, JONATHON E. MOTE wrote: 
 
>  
> On November 20, Robin Neill wrote: 
>  
> >So, I am reading THE PROMISE OF PRAGMATISM. 
> >What comes to mind is the following question.  With the 
> >advent of a new epistemology and psychology, following 
> >the work of Pierce, James and Dewey [the Pragmatists], 
> >T.B. Veblen called on economists to abandon the old 
> >Associationist epistemology and psychology; that is,  to 
> >bring Economics into line with Pragmatism [in his phrase, 
> >make it an evolutionary science].  Since 1950 (or 
> >whenever you wish to set the date) Pragmatism has been 
> >replaced by [succeeded by, improved upon by, has led into, 
> >has degenerated into] Postmodern Deconstructionism.  
> >The latter presents yet another [an alternative, an 
> >improved upon, a contradictory] epistemology-psychology 
> >with which to speculate about the problem of [the crisis of] 
> >knowledge.  Is anyone calling for an updating of 
> >Economics on the basis of Postmodern 
> >Deconstructionism?  What is the significance of 
> >Economics' continued reliance on `the old 
> >Associationist epistemology-psychology'?  Or, is there 
> >some other question that should be asked with respect to 
> >this matter?  Is positive, quantitative economics 
> >Pragmatic?  In what sense? 
> > [log in to unmask] 
>  
> I don't understand Robin's statement that "pragmatism has 
> been replaced by postmodern deconstructionism."  Who are 
> some of the current Pragmatists?  Offhand, I would say 
> folks like Richard Rorty, Richard Bernstein and Cornell 
> West.  To characterize them and others like them as 
> postmodern deconstructionists shows little understanding of 
> their intellectual positions--admittedly different from turn of 
> the century pragmatists.  In economics, the work of 
> McCloskey follows closely Rorty's criticism of philosophy, 
> so, in a sense, there has been an updating of economics, 
> although in the newer vein of pragmatism.  In terms of an 
> updating of economics via pomo decon, I would say that 
> Resnick and Wolff have attempted something along those 
> lines in their work on overdeterminism (ala Althusser). 
>  
> Jonathon Mote 
> 1822 Chestnut #3F 
> Philly, PA 
> [log in to unmask] 
>  
>