Christopher Hookway, “The Pragmatic Maxim: Essays on Peirce and Pragmatism” (Oxford UP, 2012)
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Who is Charles Sanders Peirce and why is his pragmatic maxim important?
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Welcome to the New Books in Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talise. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figder. Today, my guest is Professor Christopher Hookway. We'll be talking about his new book, The Pragmatic Maxim, Essays on Purse and Pragmatism. Which has just been published by Oxford University Press. Chris is a professor of philosophy at the University of Sheffield. Charles Sanders Peirce was the founder of the philosophical tradition. Known as pragmatism. He's also the proponent of a distinctive variety of pragmatism. That has has it as its core. A logical rule that has come to be known as the pragmatic maxim. Now according to this maxim, the meaning of a concept or a proposition or a hypothesis is ultimately to be defined in terms of the sensible and practical effects it would produce in the course of experimental action.
Now that is of course a crude articulation. But according to Peirce, the view of meaning that the maxim articulates has vast philosophical implications. Perce's pragmatism is at once antiskeptical, infallibilist, Verificationist and inferentialists and realists. Now that sounds like a motley crowd of philosophical commitments. So let's turn to the interview to see how they all hang together. Hello, Chris Hookway. Hello, Bob. Good job. How are you doing today? I'm doing fine. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Today, my guest on New Books in Philosophy is Christopher Hookway. He's just published a book titled The Pragmatic Maxim Essays on Purse and Pragmatism. Book is published with Oxford University Press.
And as many listeners will know Chris works in a broad range of philosophical areas, including epistemology, philosophy of language, metaphysics, and the history of twentieth century philosophy. But one of the themes that ties all of this work together Is an ongoing and developing interest in Charles Sanders' purse. And in pragmatism more generally. This new book includes eleven chapters. And each is dealing with an aspect of Purs's pragmatism and its relation to deep philosophical questions that are still with us today. Perse emerges from Chris's book. A dynamic and strikingly contemporary philosopher. with uh a great deal to contribute to uh contemporary Debates. But before we get into all the details, um Chris, why don't you uh start us off by telling us a little bit about yourself?
Okay. Well, perhaps I'll I I can say something about my interests in purse and my interests in philosophy. I think my m my work in philosophy, and I suspect in that case quite a bit of my life, has been taken over by Perth for twenty, thirty, maybe more years now.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Charles Sanders Peirce and why is his pragmatic maxim important?
0:00–8:05
2
What does Peirce’s biography reveal about his philosophical development?
8:05–15:51
3
How does the pragmatic maxim define the meaning of concepts and propositions?
15:51–25:23
4
In what way does the pragmatic maxim serve as an anti‑skeptical strategy?
25:23–34:00
5
What is Peirce’s conception of truth and how does it differ from James’s view?
34:00–43:09
6
How does Peirce’s fallibilism shape his approach to inquiry and inference?
43:09–51:06
7
Why does Peirce emphasize the communal and public nature of inquiry?
51:06–58:33
8
What future research directions does Hookway plan after *The Pragmatic Maxim*?
58:33–1:06:02
Speakers
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