“No figure is more central to pragmatism than Peirce, no concern of his more central to his project than what he called the proof of pragmatism. John J. Stuhr addresses the question of this proof with historical erudition, hermeneutic sophistication, philosophical subtlety, and theoretical imagination, going far beyond anything yet achieved in solving one of the most perplexing paradoxes of Peirce. A must read not only for Peirce scholars and cotemporary pragmatists, but also for any theorist seriously interested in how to make our ideas relevant to life and fecund, not simply clear.”

Vincent Colapietro, University of Rhode Island, USA

“This book offers an illuminating and unifying account of Peirce's proof of pragmatism. In the spirit of Peirce, Stuhr offers a compelling argument for why the proof ultimately succeeds, not simply as a deduction, but as one with deductive, inductive, and abductive components. This work is a vital contribution to Peirce scholarship, offering many important and insightful solutions to several tensions in Peirce's thought. It also offers the newcomer a beautifully clear and elucidating entryway into Peirce's philosophy.”

Elizabeth F . Cooke, Creighton University, USA

“Stuhr's The Proof of Pragmatism is an accessible, engaging, and insightful study of Peirce's pragmatism and his repeated efforts to prove it. Neither Peirce nor Stuhr offers a conclusive proof of pragmatism. Yet both show that the search itself powerfully illuminates not only what pragmatism is, but also why one cannot truly be a philosopher without being a pragmatist.”

Cornelis de Waal, Indiana University Indianapolis, USA

Stuhr argues that the proof of pragmatism, left unfinished by Peirce, lies in Peirce's mature system of the philosophical sciences. Given Peirce's metaphor that the proof should not be viewed as a chain of inferences, but as a cable composed of interweaving threads, Stuhr finds these threads in each of the philosophical sciences, which precede the empirical sciences. Stuhr shows convincingly how phenomenology, the normative sciences of semiotics, ethics, aesthetics, and metaphysics each contribute a thread to the proof. In the process, he demonstrates that the pragmatic maxim, while promoting an experimental philosophy, is integral to the success of experimental science.

James Liszka, SUNY Plattsburgh, USA