Abstract
The first session introduced the reasons for a certain revival of pragmatism and the identity problems associated with this movement from its origins in the United States at the end of the 19th century, and highlighted the extent to which pragmatism is perhaps more a state of mind than a precise doctrine. The major figures in this movement are Charles S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, F.C.S. Schiller, and their less direct heirs, Frank Ramsey, L. Wittgenstein and, closer to home, Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Robert Brandom and Huw Price. We have identified two styles of pragmatism, a more reformist current and a more revolutionary one, depending on the importance given or not to knowledge, and we have raised a few points on which we can underline the current philosophical relevance of pragmatism (in matters of belief, knowledge, metaphysics, but also in terms of elaborate reflection on signs or norms and on naturalism).
