Media Philosophy and Media Education in the Age of the Internet

The New Wave of Pragmatism in Communication Studies

“…By the "pragmatic turn", Sandbothe (2005b) understands "the transition to philosophical activity for which the representationalist question of our theories' reference to reality, with a view to their cognitive or truth value, is no longer central, but instead of this the anti-representationalist question of the usefulness of our thinking within the framework of concrete, historically contingent, politically and socially determined situations of action". He emphasises that it is important not to confuse this distinction with that of realism versus anti-realism.…”

“…He emphasises that it is important not to confuse this distinction with that of realism versus anti-realism. Following Rorty (1991, p. 2), Sandbothe claims that the quarrel between realist and anti-realist -that is, constructionist -epistemologies is one that could only arise within representationalism; under "the anti-representationalist banner cognitive feats are apprehended not as representations constructing or copying reality, but as pragmatic tools for changing reality" (Sandbothe 2005b). In Sandbothe's and William Eddinton's (2004) terminology, this is a deflationist variant of neopragmatism that maintains that we should "view our knowledge as a collection of tools for the democratically-oriented transformation of reality" (p. 2); it is thus distinguished from such inflationist forms of pragmatism that strive to substitute an anti-representationalist epistemology for the representationalist one.…”

“…(Sandbothe 2005b) The quote above reveals some of Sandbothe's reasons for ignoring Peirce and preferring James as "the more consistent pragmatist" (Sandbothe 2005a, p. 86). Terms such as "transcendental" and "universal" are abhorrent to most forms of neopragmatism; the former supposedly discloses a Kantian obsession with conditions of knowledge while the latter indicates a belief that philosophy should strive for knowledge claims of universal scope rather than promote concrete, politically determined, and historically contingent transformations of action.…”

“…Moreover, Peircean philosophy involves a suspect penchant for science and experimental thought, which James allegedly avoids. As Sandbothe (2005b) pithily declares, in "contrast to Peirce's universalist transcendental pragmatism, which is oriented according to the model of scientific laboratory situations, James's contextualist pragmatism can be directly applied to the multiply determined and contingently structured conditions of everyday life as well as to the strongly traditionally determined contexts of philosophy and theology".…”

“…A true opinion is one that manages to produce coherence among the particular experiences confronting an individual; it is an idea "that mediates between the stock [of old opinions] and the new experience and runs them into one another most felicitously and expediently" (James 1907, p. 60). As Sandbothe (2005b) formulates the matter, truth so understood is no longer a mysterious property attached to ideas or propositions for all eternity, but rather a mark of performance that a particular idea may acquire in a certain context.…”