Pragmatism versus Marxism

George Novack offers a Marxist critique of pragmatism as developed and popularised by John Dewey. These two ways of looking at the world are contrasted point by point on questions of scientific method, logic, the nature of experience, the criteria of truth, the anatomy of society. Novack assesses not only Dewey’s theories but his attempts to reorient the educational and political institutions of the United States according to the values and methods of pragmatic liberalism. He concludes by sketching the new path philosophy will have to pursue in order to link itself with a successful struggle to reconstruct society.