Abstract

This dissertation argues that American pragmatism implicitly demonstrates the necessity of rhetoric for democratic affairs. To support that argument I show how pragmatism articulates an intellectual orientation to the world that, if true, necessitates the practice of rhetoric. I also show how pragmatism outlines practical conditions that call for the use of rhetoric in negotiating socio-political affairs. This argument is warranted by virtue of a significant similarity between pragmatism and Ancient Greek rhetorical theory and by virtue of pragmatism's rejection of philosophy and its traditional assumptions, commitments, and practices. To establish these claims, I address William James's philosophy of pluralism, John Dewey's attention to the practical arts and communication, Jane Addams's belief in a "social democracy," Alain Locke's celebration of African-American art, and Oliver Wendell Holmes's decisions as a judge. These five pragmatists all establish a theoretical commitment to the necessity of rhetoric and recommend specific rhetorical practices for American democracy. Three main implications derive from my interpretation of pragmatism. First, although none of the pragmatists are rhetoricians , all suggest the possibility of developing a rhetoric based on pragmatist principles and hint at what that rhetoric might look like. Second, the themes of classical Greek rhetoric are still around today and are useful in renewing and improving contemporary culture. And third, philosophies are improved by exploring their relationship to rhetoric. These implications point to the central theoretical claim that American pragmatism and classical rhetoric are related by a shared outlook on the human predicament and the search for practical methods to cope with that predicament