Pragmatism, Law, and Language [Paperback]

This volume puts leading pragmatists in the philosophy of language, including Robert Brandom, in contact with scholars concerned with what pragmatism has come to mean for the law. Each contribution uses the resources of pragmatism to tackle fundamental problems in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of law, and social and political philosophy. In many chapters, the version of pragmatism deployed proves a fruitful approach to its subject matter; in others, shortcomings of the specific brand of pragmatism are revealed. The result is a clearer understanding of what pragmatism has meant and can mean across these tightly related philosophical areas. The book, then, is itself pragmatism in action: it seeks to clarify its unifying concept by examining the practices that centrally involve it.

Part I. Semantic Pragmatism 1. A Hegelian Model of Legal Concept Determination: The Normative Fine Structure of the Judges Chain Novel Robert Brandom  2. Soames, Legislative Intent, and the Meaning of a Statute Barbara Baum Levenbook 3. Antipositivist Arguments from Legal Thought and Talk: The Metalinguistic Response David Plunkett and Timothy Sundell  4. Appellate Adjudication as Conceptual Engineering Heidi Li Feldman 5. Responsibility and Causation: A Pragmatist View Daniele Santoro 6. Attitudinal Expressivism and Logical Pragmatism in Metaethics Matthew Chrisman 7. Quasi-Realism, Projectivism, and the Explanatory Challenge Karl Schafer 8. Studying Genocide: A Pragmatist Approach to Action-Engendering Discourse Lynne Tirrell Part II. The American Pragmatist Tradition 9. Deweyan Democracy and the Absence of Justice Robert B. Talisse 10. Truth, Justice, and the American Pragmatist WayF. Thomas Burke 11. Pragmatism, Democrlã™