February 1

Catherine Elgin, Harvard University, "What's the Use?"

Hans Joas, Freie Universitat, Berlin, and University of Chicago, "Values vs. Norms: A Pragmatist Account of Moral Objectivity"

February 15

Merold Westphal, Fordham University, "Coping and Conversing: The Limits and Promise of Pragmatism"

Linda Alcoff, Syracuse University, "Going Beyond Conversation/Reclaiming Truth"

April 12

John Stuhr, Pennsylvania State University, "Pragmatism as a Human Persuasion: Philosophy Without Transcendence"

Stephen Toulmin, University of Southern California "Beyond Pragmatism and Modern Skepticism"

Merold Westphal

Richard Horner and Hans Joas

The Spring 2001 Colloquium Series, entitled "Beyond the Absolute and the Arbitrary: Exploring the Possibilities of Pragmatism," attempted both to explore the resources of pragmatism and to evaluate pragmatism's ability to provide a third way that delivers us from the swing between the supposedly absolute and the seemingly arbitrary. Our inquiry included, but was not limited to, the following questions. How, in fact, is pragmatism being appropriated in the humanities and social sciences? What are the significant trends in this regard? Do the pragmatists free us from the tiresome swing between dogmatism and skepticism? Are they part of the solution or part of the problem? What are pragmatism's shortcomings and limitations? What are its contributions? What elements of pragmatism might we appropriate more effectively, or modify in some way, in our pursuit of worthwhile arguments and inquiries?