Includes bibliographical index.

In Pragmatism's Evolution, Trevor Pearce demonstrates that the philosophical tradition of pragmatism owes an enormous debt to specific biological debates in the late 1800s, especially those concerning the role of the environment in development and evolution. The various thinkers associated with pragmatism, from Charles Sanders Peirce to Jane Addams and beyond, were towering figures in American intellectual life. Nevertheless, few realize the full extent of their engagement with new developments in the biological sciences. Delve into James's Principles of Psychology and you will discover humans and cuttlefish alike actively shaping their perceptions; browse through Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk and you will encounter an evolutionary analysis of black leadership; open up Dewey's Democracy and Education and you will find a whole chapter on the role of the environment. If we want to understand the pragmatists and their influence, Pearce argues, we need to understand the relationship between pragmatism and biology.