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Pragmatism and the Tragic Sense of Life.

1977; Philosophy Documentation Center; Volume: 74; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/2025607

1939-8549

Frederick A. Olafson, Sidney Hook,

Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education

Last summer in Honolulu, on a Sunday when the East-West Philosophers' Conference was not in session, I made an interesting discovery. I wandered into a church in which after the minister delivered his sermon the audience was invited to question him and make critical comments. I enjoyed it immensely. Had I remained in Hawaii I would have become a member of that congregation. although I recognize that there are occasions when one should listen and not talk back, I have often suffered when compelled to sit patiently as waves of rhetoric or streams of outrageous misstatement or misinterpretation washed over me. My sympathy therefore goes out to any audience which must endure with silent composure the discussion of a controversial theme. My sympathy is tempered by the realization that all of you have the means and the long memories to make effective replies. In casting about for a theme, I consulted some of my distinguished predecessors who told me: For Heaven's sake and our own, don't merely give us another paper. Say something of general significancewhich I took to be an encouragement to talk about large and controversial matters in an old-fashioned way.