A mediating way of thinking: Rhetoric, gender, and religion in the American pragmatist tradition

This dissertation addresses the topic of pragmatism and feminism through an analysis of the intersecting themes of rhetoric, gender, and religion in the pragmatist tradition. Many explanations for the current pragmatist renaissance situate pragmatism as an alternative to and way of moderating between existing theoretical positions. This presentation of pragmatism as a via media can be identified and explored with attention to gender and religion in both classical and contemporary manifestations of the pragmatist tradition. The first chapter surveys contemporary varieties of pragmatism and controversies over its interpretation, and outlines the method and context of the dissertation. Chapter two undertakes a genealogy of the term pragmatism and its contested meanings and narratives, arguing for a pluralistic, heterogeneous understanding of the pragmatist tradition as composed not only of multiple narratives but also competing interests and claims. The third chapter explores William James's presentation of pragmatism with attention to cultural context and his views on women and gender in order to understand how pragmatism comes to be constructed as a gendered rhetoric of mediation. James constructs pragmatism as a female-gendered mediator between opposing commitments and attitudes of philosophy, religion, and science on the one hand, and between ideals of the gendered self, on the other, that he finds to be present in his time. The fourth chapter focuses on Richard Rorty's version of neopragmatism and its rhetoric of neutrality and consensus. Rorty's analysis of what pragmatism can contribute to feminism is grounded in a gendered separation of public and private, which establishes strict boundaries regarding the role of religion in liberal democratic societies. He offers pragmatism to feminists as a neutral set of theoretical tools that can be deployed as needed while feminists are engaged in political struggle. In contemporary feminist theory and theology, some forms of pragmatism inherit this "strong" Rortian pragmatism and function as a gendered rhetoric of consensus and convergence that minimizes difference and claims neutrality. The dissertation concludes with a call for further critical feminist analysis of the pragmatist tradition and of the forms of pragmatism that are being advocated as a resource for feminist theory and practice.