Three Pragmatisms: Putnam, Rorty and Brandom

Over the last several decades an increasing number of philosophers
have announced their sympathies for or have become affiliated with what
has become known as neo-pragmatism. The connection between the various
strands of pragmatism, new and old, however, remains quite unclear. This paper
attempts to shed some light on this issue by focusing on a debate between Hilary
Putnam and Robert Brandom on classical and contemporary pragmatisms. Using
the Brandom-Putnam debate as my starting point, I examine the relationship
between the pragmatisms of Putnam and Rorty, two of the most influential neopragmatists,
and argue that differing conceptions of the normative are at the
heart of their disagreement. I further argue that this disagreement has similarities
to, and can be illuminated by, two differing conceptions of norms in
Wittgenstein’s work. I conclude that Brandom does not delineate the differences
between various strands of pragmatism convincingly.