I post my Spring 2002 schedule as an example. The precise schedule varies from semester to semester.
You can find a key to the abbreviations at the bottom.
| Topic | Author | Reading | ||
| Wed., 9 Jan. | Introductory meeting | |||
| Mon., 14 Jan. | General orientation to pragmatism | James | "What Pragmatism Means," | J, pp. 376-390 |
| Peirce | ‘What Pragmatism Is" | P, pp. 262-281 | ||
| Wed., 16 Jan. - Wed., 23 Jan. | The Stream of Thought | James | "The Stream of Thought" | J, pp. 21-74 |
| Mon., 21 Jan | Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | |||
| Mon., 28 Jan. | Habit | James | "Habit" | J, pp. 9-21 |
| Wed., 30 Jan. | Dewey | "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" | D, pp. 3-10 | |
| Mon., 4 Feb. | Meaning and Action | Peirce | "How to Make Our Ideas Clear" | P, pp. 137-158 |
| Wed., 6 Feb. | Peirce | "Issues of Pragmaticism" | P, pp. 281-299 | |
| Mon., 11 Feb. | James | "Percept and Concept -- The Import of Concepts" | J, 232-243 | |
| Wed., 13 Feb. | Dewey | "What Pragmatism Means by Practical," Part I | D, pp. 377-380 | |
| Mon., 18 Feb. | Presidents’ Day | |||
| Wed., 20 Feb. | Truth and Knowledge | Russell | "On the Nature of Truth and Falsehood" | handout |
| Blanshard | "Coherence as the Nature of Truth," ch. 26 of The Nature of Thought | handout | ||
recommended: |
Peirce | "The Fixation of Belief" | in P | |
| Mon., 25 Feb. - Wed., 27 Feb. | James | "Pragmatism’s Conception of Truth" | J, 429-443 | |
| Week of 4 Mar. | Spring Break | |||
| Mon., 11 Mar. | Russell | "William James’s Conception of Truth" | (on reserve in Lauinger) | |
| James | "The Pragmatist Account of Truth and Its Misunderstanders" | (on reserve in Lauinger) | ||
recommended: |
Dewey | "What Pragmatism Means by Practical," Parts II & III | D, pp. 380f | |
| Wed., 13 Mar. | Dewey | "Propositions, Warranted Assertibility, and Truth" | D, pp. 201-212 | |
| Mon., 18 Mar. - Wed., 20 Mar. | Applying James's Epistemology: Religion | James | "Will to Believe" | J, pp. 717-735 |
| Mon., 25 Mar. - Wed., 27 Mar. | Contemporary Pragmatist Epistemology: Putnam vs. Rorty | Putnam | Reason, Truth, and History | RTH, chs. 3 & 5 |
| Mon., 1 April | Easter Monday | |||
| Wed., 3 April | Rorty | "Solidarity or Objectivity?" | ORT, pp. 21-34 | |
| Mon., 8 April | Rorty | "Pragmatism,
Davidson, and Truth," sections 1 & 2; and "Science and Solidarity" |
ORT, pp. 126-132; and pp. 35-45 | |
| Wed., 10 April | Fact and Value | James | "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life" | J, pp. 610-629 |
| Mon., 15 April | Dewey | "The Logic of Judgments of Practice," parts I & II | D, pp. 236-253 | |
| Wed., 17 April | recommended additional readings: | Dewey | "Valuation and Experimental Knowledge," Part I | D, pp. 272-275 |
| Aquinas | Summa, First Part of the Second Part, Question 1, Article 4 & Article 5 | |||
| Mon., 22 April | Dewey | "Moral Judgment and Knowledge" | D, pp. 328-340 | |
| Wed., 24 April | Putnam | Reason, Truth and History | RTH, ch. 6 | |
| Mon., 29 April | Final class session |
J: William James. The Writings of William James. McDermott (ed.). (Chicago).
D: John Dewey. The Essential Dewey, vol. 2: Ethics, Logic, Psychology. Hickman (ed.). (Indiana).
P: Charles Peirce. The Essential Writings. Moore (ed.). (Prometheus).
RTH: Hilary Putnam. Reason, Truth, and History. (Cambridge).
ORT: Richard Rorty. Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth. (Cambridge).