Pragmatism as richard rorty has said names the chief glory of our countrys intellectual tradition in democratic hope robert b westbrook examines the varieties of classical pragmatist thought in the work of john dewey william james and charles peirce testing in good pragmatic fashion the truth of propositions by their consequences in experience. In democratic hope robert b westbrook examines the varieties of classical pragmatist thought in the work of john dewey william james and charles peirce testing in good pragmatic fashion the truth of propositions by their consequences in experience. While a tragic sensibility informs democratic hope and here westbrook shows an affinity with the later perspective of christopher lasch westbrook remains committed to pragmatism especially since there are no better options in these dark times pragmatisms emphases on openness antiabsolutism contingency and reason as well as on . Pragmatism as richard rorty has said names the chief glory of our countrys intellectual tradition in democratic hope robert b westbrook examines the varieties of classical pragmatist thought in the work of john dewey william james and charles peirce testing in good pragmatic fashion the truth of propositions by their consequences in experience. Democratic hope pragmatism and the politics of truth has a powerful intro duction and nine articles arranged into two sections the first entitled pragmatism old and the second pragmatism new broadly each contribution to the volume advances an aspect of pragmatisms relationship to politics and political theory