Happy Independence Day

The one indigenous American school of Philosophy has thus far been 'Pragmatism'. The primary feature of this doctrine, not to be confused with 'expediency', is the recombination of Thought and Action, of Theory and Practice, after the pervasive millennia-long tradition of the priority of Thought and Theory over Action and Practice. The pioneer of Pragmatism, in the late 1800s, was Charles S. Peirce, with notable further developments coming from William James and John Dewey. The latter perhaps best exemplifies the doctrine, as he became a prominent figure not only with respect to the Theoretical dimension of Pragmatism, but in his impact on American Education, and in his involvement in the rise of Political Progressivism that led to the New Deal. The influence of Pragmatism can also be found, implicitly, if not explicitly, in the works of such European luminaries as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and Derrida. Ironically, where Pragmatism seems least welcome these days is in American Academia, where it dominated for the first half of the 20th Century. But the predominant school in Academic Philosophy since the turn of the century has been Analytic Philosophy, the founding fathers of which were the British Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore. This school is dedicated primarily to Logical evaluation of the language of Philosophy, and it accords priority to Theory over Practice. But perhaps the most telling contrast with Pragmatism is the prominent political activism of Russell, which might be more Leftist than Dewey's, but which, unlike the latter's, assertively bears no systematic connection to his Theoretical work. Happy Independence Day, American Academic Philosophy!