The Century-Old Philosophy of Pragmatism Is an Existential Life Preserver

It’s an attempt to harmonize one’s life with the cruel necessities of nature

John Kaag
Forge
Published in
6 min readMar 19, 2020

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A singular circular pattern ripples on a calm lake’s surface.
Photo: Chris Hackett/Getty Images

InIn 2010, I was 30, in the midst of my first divorce, and had just watched my estranged, alcoholic father die. During that time, I was at Harvard on a postdoc writing about the pioneering American philosopher and…

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John Kaag
Forge
Writer for

Philosophy Professor, Writer, author of the forthcoming American Philosophy--A Love Story (October 2016) @fsgbooks