Pragmatism, Politics, and Perversity: Democracy and the American Party Battle

The political project of pragmatism has focused primarily on its defense of democracy as the best political system to maintain and improve human well-being over lifetimes and generations. Pragmatism Politics and Perversity: Democracy and the American Party Battle describes this project of Peirce, Dewey, Hook, and Rorty, and combines it with Charles Beard’s study of the party battle as the most determinative influence upon American democracy. The book updates and confirms Beard’s hypothesis that the history of the party battle is a chronicle of perverse schemes and self-inflicted wounds – the most salient to date being the American Civil War – because it reflects a ceaselessly disruptive contest over the creation of two largely incompatible political states: nation state and market state. The book supports its thesis with detailed historical accounts of the formation of the Constitution and early federal judiciary, the sedition trials and political schemes of the 1790s, the frustration of market state Whigs to attract white working-class voters by exploiting their religious identities, the reckless machinations of Whig Republicans in precipitating a national crisis over a contrived threat of oligarchy and white slavery, and the ideological oscillations of the Supreme Court from market state to nation state jurisprudence and back again. To reduce perversity in political rhetoric and free up pragmatic democratic practices, the book proposes a robust neo-Madisonian view of free speech, where political actors and their surrogates are not only free to speak and write, but are also obligated to explain, retract, and revise what they have said and written.

Politics & Social Sciences

Esposito, Joseph L.

Philosophy

Lexington Books

The political project of pragmatism has focused primarily on its defense of democracy as the best political system to maintain and improve human well-being over lifetimes and generations. Pragmatism Politics and Perversity: Democracy and the American Party Battle describes this project of Peirce, Dewey, Hook, and Rorty, and combines it with Charles Beard’s study of the party battle as the most determinative influence upon American democracy. The book updates and confirms Beard’s hypothesis that the history of the party battle is a chronicle of perverse schemes and self-inflicted wounds – the most salient to date being the American Civil War – because it reflects a ceaselessly disruptive contest over the creation of two largely incompatible political states: nation state and market state.The book supports its thesis with detailed historical accounts of the formation of the Constitution and early federal judiciary, the sedition trials and political schemes of the 1790s, the frustration of market state Whigs to attract white working-class voters by exploiting their religious identities, the reckless machinations of Whig Republicans in precipitating a national crisis over a contrived threat of oligarchy and white slavery, and the ideological oscillations of the Supreme Court from market state to nation state jurisprudence and back again.To reduce perversity in political rhetoric and free up pragmatic democratic practices, the book proposes a robust neo-Madisonian view of free speech, where political actors and their surrogates are not only free to speak and write, but are also obligated to explain, retract, and revise what they have said and written.

Politics & Government

Evolutionary Metaphysics is a critical and historical study of the metaphysics of Charles S. Peirce. Emphasis is place on the underlying element in Peirce's thought achieved by the continuous development of his theory of categories.

Evolutionary Metaphysics: The Development of Peirce's Theory of Categories

Ohio Univ Pr

Analyzes Schelling's arguments for his idealism and pieces together a description of his theory of nature from among the large number of his writings in this area. It also traces the influence of Naturphilosophie on 19th-century science and connects it with recent System Theory.

Schelling's Idealism and Philosophy of Nature

Associated Univ Pr

Law and Morality: A Survey of Ideas, Issues, and Cases

Ethics & Professional Responsibility

Ethics International Press, Inc

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Books by Esposito, Joseph L.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Esposito, Joseph L.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Pragmatism, Politics, and Perversity: Democracy and the American Party Battle

Pragmatism, Politics, and Perversity: Democracy and the American Party Battle

Evolutionary Metaphysics: The Development of Peirce's Theory of Categories

Schelling's Idealism and Philosophy of Nature

Law and Morality: A Survey of Ideas, Issues, and Cases