Pragmatism Versus Marxism Paperback – January 1, 1975

Arrived promptly and was what i expected.

I've recently been reading through George Novack's Pragmatism versus Marxism and Harry K. Wells's book, Pragmatism: Philosophy of Imperialism, which, as the title implies, Wells analyzed American pragmatist philosophy as an ideology of imperialism. George Novack, some years later, would write his book on pragmatism, Pragmatism Versus Marxism: An Appraisal of John Dewey's Philosophy. Both books IMO suffer from the fact that the two authors were unwilling or unable to confront the extent to which leading Marxist thinkers have been influenced by American pragmatism. Novack, at least, did discuss the young Sidney Hook's attempt to synthesize Marxism with pragmatism. Wells did not do even that, although he did give a very competent survey of the history of American pragmatism, from the founding of the Metaphysical Club up through John Dewey. And Novack, to his credit, provided a better social analysis of American pragmatism. Basically, Novack saw pragmatism as representing the philosophical outlook of the American middle class. And just as the middle class can either side with the ruling bourgeoisie against the working class, or can side with the working class against the bourgeoisie, so likewise, pragmatism can either play a progressive role or a reactionary role.However, neither Wells nor Novack, discussed the influence of American pragmatism, both directly and indirectly, on Marxist thinkers like Gramsci and Mariategui, nor did they discuss thinkers like Lukacs and Korsch, whose philosophies, as Sidney Hook realized, bore striking affinities with American pragmatist thought. So, at the end of the day, it would seem that Sidney Hook, must still be considered to be the greatest Marxist philosopher to come from the US, which is a rather disquieting conclusion, given his later anti-communist politics.

This book is one of several written by the revolutionary Marxist George Novack. In it he counterposes Marxism to pragmatism, but not as one philosophy against another. Marxism is not a philosophy at all; instead it is a scientific method for understanding social history and change. As such it explains the origin, development and social significance of all forms of ideology, including specific philosophical schools of thought.The overall course of cultural development, since the emergence of the ancient slave-based civilizations, has been driven by the motor of class conflict. Throughout history, each class can be characterized by its own distinctive features of social psychology, morality and outlook, although they are modified in different social contexts. The dominant class of modern society, the capitalist class, is no different. It has its own fundamental moral and social outlook, which is best revealed in the philosophy of pragmatism.The philosophy of pragmatism was best explained by John Dewey, an early twentieth-century thinker who developed keen insights into the outlook of the ruling class of the United States. He pinpointed and formalized the essential elements of the outlook of the average capitalist and developed these into the principles of a philosophy he called pragmatism. These include an individualistic and optimistic approach to life, a practical, "can do" attitude, a disregard of history and its lessons ("History is bunk," said Henry Ford) and a disdain for any "theory" that does not produce practical results in short order.Marxism, with its deep concern for the facts of history and its rigorous analysis of the inner logic of social development and change, can explain the development of classes and social modes of production. As part of this, George Novack demonstrates, Marxism can also explain how the guiding ideas of a class are linked to its historical role and needs. And this helps workers to understand the class with which they are forced to do battle, and provides them with valuable lessons they can use in winning the battle.

If you came to this page and are checking out the above title because you are interested in Marxism and/or other "isms" as tools for fundamental social change, to turn around and defeat the injustice and brutalities brought upon working people and farmers here and around the world by this system, this book can help you a lot, as can any other book by George Novack. Here he is answering the "official philosophy" of Yankee capitalism: pragmatism, as put forward by the liberal philosopher John Dewey. While Dewey was often an opponent of the evil things this system does, Novack points out the dead end of a philosophy that is primarily concerned with "practical results"-in the short term only. Novack defends the long view of history that is the view of Marxism: history-as-present as well as the past. He defends historical materialism, which means that Marxists do not believe that history (and history-as-present) is made by a deity or deities; and that social phenomena are directly or indirectly determined by society's economic condition. Novack teaches you how to look at society and events like the New World Depression we have and entered and the string of imperial wars that go with it, in a scientific, objective way. He does this for the sole purpose of making the scientific world view first propagated by Karl Marx and his collaborator Frederick Engels useful as a weapon for today's fighter for a fundamental change in the order of things. He stands alongside them to repeat that "the philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."