Development and difference

pragmatism and the social process

Andrew Abbott

In this paper I shall examine how the pragmatists regarded the context of a single self in time (the problem of personal development over the life course) and the context of a single self in social space (the problem not only of surrounding individuals but also of surrounding and fundamentally different groups). After a quick glance at the ontologies of the earlier pragmatists, I discuss the problems of individual development and social difference as they emerged society-wide during and after the first pragmatist generation. Having specified these problems, I can set the second pragmatist generation in the context they provide. The paper concludes with a discussion of the centrality of accounts of development and difference in a processualized social ontology.

Publication details

DOI: 10.4000/ejpap.639

Full citation:

Abbott, A. (2016). Development and difference: pragmatism and the social process. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 8 (2), pp. n/a.

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