Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy

I suggest that pragmatism can be employed as a valuable methodological contribution to inquiry regarding the meaning of our mortality, that is, to philosophical inquiry concerning death. I consider this in relation to the so-called pragmatic maxim, examining its relevance for understanding beliefs about death. Then I look further at the unique configuration of classical American pragmatism and its relevance to thinking about death by turning to two of its other historically and thematically defining characteristics, namely the affirmation of the plurality and significance of human temperament and the pragmatic emphasis on the social.