Richard J. Bernstein
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Richard Jacob Bernstein (May 14, 1932 – July 4, 2022) was an American philosopher who taught for many years at
Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
and then at
The New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
, where he was Vera List Professor of Philosophy. Bernstein wrote extensively about a broad array of issues and philosophical traditions including
American pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. Pr ...
,
neopragmatism Neopragmatism, sometimes called post-Deweyan pragmatism, linguistic pragmatism, or analytic pragmatism, is the philosophical tradition that infers that the meaning of words is a result of how they are used, rather than the objects they represent. ...
,
critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
,
deconstruction The term deconstruction refers to approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. It was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who defined it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essences w ...
,
social philosophy Social philosophy examines questions about the foundations of social institutions, social behavior, and interpretations of society in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social ...
,
political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
, and
hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...
. Bernstein's work is best known for the way in which it examines the intersections between different philosophical schools and traditions, bringing together thinkers and philosophical insights that would otherwise remain separated by the analytic/continental divide in 20th century philosophy. The pragmatic and dialogical ''ethos'' that pervades his works has also been displayed in a number of philosophical exchanges with other contemporary thinkers like
Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...
,
Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (, ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas's wor ...
,
Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic phi ...
,
Hans-Georg Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics. Life Family an ...
,
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
, Agnes Heller, and Charles Taylor. Bernstein was an engaged public intellectual concerned not only with the specialized debates of academic philosophy, but also with the larger issues that touch upon social, political, and cultural aspects of contemporary life. Throughout his life Bernstein actively endorsed a number of social causes and was involved in movements of participatory democracy, upholding some of the cardinal virtues of the American pragmatist tradition, including a commitment to fallibilism, engaged pluralism, and the nurturing of critical communities.


Early life and education

Bernstein was born May 14, 1932, in Brooklyn to a second-generation Jewish immigrant family. The youngest of three children, he attended
Midwood High School Midwood High School is a high school located at 2839 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, administered by the New York City Department of Education. It has an enrollment of 3,938 students. Its H-shaped building, with six Ionic order, Ionic co ...
, a public high school in Brooklyn where he first met his future wife Carol L. Bernstein. Too young to be drafted into the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Bernstein enrolled as an undergraduate in the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, where he fell in love with philosophy, eventually writing an honors thesis entitled “Love and Friendship in Plato: A Study of the
Lysis Lysis ( ) is the breaking down of the membrane of a cell, often by viral, enzymic, or osmotic (that is, "lytic" ) mechanisms that compromise its integrity. A fluid containing the contents of lysed cells is called a ''lysate''. In molecular bio ...
and the
Phaedrus Phaedrus may refer to: People * Phaedrus (Athenian) (c. 444 BC – 393 BC), an Athenian aristocrat depicted in Plato's dialogues * Phaedrus (fabulist) (c. 15 BC – c. AD 50), a Roman fabulist * Phaedrus the Epicurean (138 BC – c. 70 BC), an Epic ...
”. His classmates included
Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...
,
Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
,
Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...
,
George Steiner Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...
, and the person who would become one of Bernstein's closest friends and philosophical interlocutors,
Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic phi ...
. Upon graduation, and partly because he needed more credits to begin graduate studies, Bernstein returned to New York City for a couple of years to study at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
where he took courses on a variety of subjects, ranging from ancient Greek to book binding, and obtained a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree, graduating ''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
''. In 1953, following Rorty's advice, he went to
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
to pursue graduate studies in philosophy, and under the advice of pragmatist John E. Smith, wrote his dissertation on John Dewey's Metaphysics of Experience. This was a time when interest in Dewey was reaching an all-time low, partly due to the rising influence of
analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...
and the prejudiced conviction that there was not much to be learned from the Classical American Pragmatists. Indeed, for many philosophers under the sway of the analytic wave, the work of
Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". Educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for t ...
,
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
, and
John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
was just a half-baked version of the real philosophical inquiries being conducted by analytic philosophy. From early on, however, Bernstein became more and more aware of the damaging consequences of what he labeled “analytic ideology”, i.e. “the belief that the analytic style is the only game in town and the rest of philosophy is to be dismissed as simply not really worthwhile.” Of course, this “analytic ideology” should not be confused with the hard-won results of analytic philosophy. One of the reasons he decided to go to Yale was because it was one of the few departments that resisted this questionable ideology, offering a stimulating atmosphere where thinkers like
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
, Kierkegaard, and
Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...
were read with the same enthusiasm and seriousness as
Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrians, Austrian-British people, British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy o ...
and
Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. ...
. There, he studied under a remarkable group of teachers, including
Carl Gustav Hempel Carl Gustav "Peter" Hempel (January 8, 1905 – November 9, 1997) was a German writer, philosopher, logician, and epistemologist. He was a major figure in logical empiricism, a 20th-century movement in the philosophy of science. He is espec ...
, John Smith, George Schrader, and Paul Weiss.


Career

Bernstein began to teach his first courses at Yale around 1954, when he was 22 years old. In 1958 after a year as
Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
lecturer in
Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
, he returned to Yale as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. His return coincided with the arrival of a new member of the faculty, a thinker that would greatly influence Bernstein's own work and his approach to philosophy,
Wilfrid Sellars Wilfrid Stalker Sellars (May 20, 1912 – July 2, 1989) was an American philosopher and prominent developer of critical realism, who "revolutionized both the content and the method of philosophy in the United States". Life and career His father ...
. As Bernstein recalls: “it was Sellars who taught me that one could employ analytic techniques to deal with fundamental philosophic issues. I strongly admired the way in which he combined a sophisticated understanding of the history of philosophy with the ‘new way of words’ and I attended many of his seminars during a highly creative stage of his philosophic development.” In 1964 he became the editor of ''
The Review of Metaphysics ''The Review of Metaphysics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy. It was established by Paul Weiss and the first issue was published in September 1947. The journal's primary sponsor is and has been The Catholic University of America ...
'', the philosophic journal founded by Paul Weiss, and one of the few that accepted contributions from different traditions and schools of thought. In its pages one could find articles from prominent analytic thinkers like Quine and Sellars side-by-side with articles by
Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. ...
and even translations of
Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
. That same year he joined a group of faculty to participate in the
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
and
anti-Vietnam War protests Protests against the Vietnam War took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The protests were part of a movement in opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The majority of the protests were in the United States, but some took place ar ...
, and in the summer he traveled to Mississippi to take part in the Freedom Summer Project of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...
. In 1965, after teaching at Yale for almost ten years, and in spite of having the unanimous support of the entire philosophy faculty and a large number of students, he was denied tenure by the Yale Tenure Committee. This event, which is sometimes referred to as the ''Bernstein Affair'', sparked a number of student protests and eventually led to reforms in the tenure system at Yale. Professor Paul Weiss summed up the inconformity of the philosophical community when he stated that “the committee came to its conclusion slowly and conscientiously, but that does not mean that its decision was not stupid, unfair, dismaying, and one from which it will take this university and the department a long time to recover.” Other philosophy departments soon tried to recruit the young Bernstein, who after considering offerings from more than thirty institutions decided to go to
Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
, a prestigious liberal arts college where his wife could also teach college nearby and "he was allowed to build a philosophy department that would be at the center of the undergraduate curriculum. They stayed for the following 23 years. During his time at Haverford, Bernstein published some of his most famous books, including ''Praxis and Action: Contemporary Philosophies of Human Activity'' (1971), ''The Restructuring of Social and Political Theory'' (1978), ''Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics and Praxis'' (1983), and ''Philosophical Profiles: Essays in a Pragmatic Mode'' (1986). In 1972 he met
Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (, ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas's wor ...
, establishing a friendship that grew over the years and that is reflected in the exchanges and projects they undertook over the ensuing four decades. In 1976, while spending a semester at Haverford, Habermas asked Bernstein to join him in directing a seminar to be held in
Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
in support of eight dissident Yugoslavian Marxists of the Praxis group who had been dismissed from
Belgrade University The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...
because of their political views. This gesture of solidarity became an international institution, attracting, over the years, a group of intellectuals including
Albrecht Wellmer Albrecht Wellmer (9 July 1933 – 13 September 2018)
was a ...
, Charles Taylor,
Anthony Giddens Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens (born 18 January 1938) is an English sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration and his holistic view of modern societies. He is considered to be one of the most prominent modern sociologists and is t ...
,
Cornelius Castoriadis Cornelius Castoriadis ( el, Κορνήλιος Καστοριάδης; 11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997) was a Greek-FrenchMemos 2014, p. 18: "he was ... granted full French citizenship in 1970." philosopher, social critic, economist, p ...
,
Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic phi ...
,
Alain Touraine Alain Touraine (; born 3 August 1925) is a French sociology, sociologist. He is research director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he founded the ''Centre d'étude des mouvements sociaux''. Touraine was an important ...
, Agnes Heller, and the young graduate students
Seyla Benhabib Seyla Benhabib ( born September 9, 1950) is a Turkish-American philosopher. Seyla Benhabib is a senior research scholar and adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Columbia University Depar ...
,
Nancy Fraser Nancy Fraser (; born May 20, 1947) is an American philosopher, critical theorist, feminist, and the Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science and professor of philosophy at The New School in New York City.Jadžić, Milo ...
, and
Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...
. Bernstein's involvement in the Dubrovnik seminar expanded when, in 1980, he became the founding co-editor of ''
Praxis International The Praxis school was a Marxist humanist philosophical cycle, whose members were influenced by Western Marxism. It originated in Zagreb in the SFR Yugoslavia, during the 1960s. Prominent school's theorists include Gajo Petrović and Milan Kang ...
'', the successor of the important Yugoslav journal ''Praxis'', where critics of Stalinism and proponents of a “
Marxist humanism Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to huma ...
” would write. In 1989 Bernstein was elected president of the Eastern Division of the
American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarly ...
, delivering a presidential address entitled “Pragmatism, Pluralism, and the Healing of Wounds”. That same year he was invited to join the Graduate faculty of the
New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
in New York City, which at the time was experiencing hardships. Together with Agnes Heller and
Reiner Schürmann Father Reiner Schürmann, O.P., Ph.D. (February 4, 1941 – August 20, 1993) was a German Dominican priest and philosopher. From 1975 to his death, he was Professor in the department of philosophy of the Graduate Faculty of the New School fo ...
, Bernstein led the reconstruction of the philosophy department, and he served as chair from 1989 to 2002. During his time at the New School Bernstein wrote books on
Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...
,
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
,
radical evil Radical evil (german: das radikal Böse) is a phrase used by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, one representing the Christian term, . Kant believed that human beings naturally have a tendency to be evil. He explains radical evil as corruption that ...
,
pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...
, violence,
irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...
, and the relation between humans and nature.


Philosophical themes


Fusion of philosophical horizons

Bernstein work embodies the pragmatist ''ethos'' that he has tirelessly articulated since his first publications. For him, engaged pluralism, fallibilism, and public deliberation are not abstract philosophical concepts but practical guidelines that must orient responsible action. Thanks to this dialogical approach, he played a crucial role in broadening the philosophical horizon of
American philosophy American philosophy is the activity, corpus, and tradition of philosophers affiliated with the United States. The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' notes that while it lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevert ...
. Bernstein “has the rare capacity to weave a coherent vision out of the disparate strands of seemingly conflicting intellectual traditions. He has regularly showed us how to see past surface contradictions to the underlying problems we share and to the sometimes common assumptions that animate contemporary sensibilities.” Moreover, Bernstein “opened pragmatism to international intellectual currents, including phenomenology, deconstruction, and critical theory. The result has been a more cosmopolitan pragmatism, one less centered on the United States and more appropriate to a globalizing world.” It is Bernstein's conviction that many of the themes of classical American pragmatism have resurfaced in the work of some of the most prominent twentieth and twenty-first-century philosophers. This is what he calls the ''Pragmatic Turn'' in philosophy, a subtle but important shift that brought together thinkers as diverse as
Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrians, Austrian-British people, British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy o ...
,
Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
, Putnam,
Habermas Habermas is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jürgen Habermas (born 1929), German sociologist and philosopher * Rebekka Habermas (born 1959), German historian *Gary Habermas Gary Robert Habermas (born 1950) is an American ...
, Honneth, and Brandom. He brought them together, not only in his published work, but as part of his "outreach across traditions and natural borders", he championed and brought to Pennsylvania and New York figures like
Derrida Derrida is a surname shared by notable people listed below. * Bernard Derrida (born 1952), French theoretical physicist * Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), French philosopher ** ''Derrida'' (film), a 2002 American documentary film * Marguerite De ...
,
Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics. Life Family an ...
,
Habermas Habermas is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jürgen Habermas (born 1929), German sociologist and philosopher * Rebekka Habermas (born 1959), German historian *Gary Habermas Gary Robert Habermas (born 1950) is an American ...
, and
Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, bg, Юлия Стоянова Кръстева; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who ...
." (Although he was known for giving guest speakers a hard time – "asking the ''hard'' questions about ''real'' issues" –
Edward S. Casey Edward S. Casey (born February 24, 1939 in Topeka, Kansas) is an American philosopher and university professor. He has published several volumes on phenomenology, philosophical psychology, and the philosophy of space and place. His work is widely ...
notes that "his intent asalways to advance the discussion and not merely to find shortcomings in the speaker or author"


Overcoming the Cartesian anxiety

In his 1983 book ''Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis'', Bernstein diagnosed a serious issue that affects much of modern philosophy as it oscillates between two untenable positions; on the one hand, the dogmatic search for absolute truths, and on the other, the conviction that “anything goes” when it comes to the justification of our most cherished beliefs and ideas. According to Bernstein, what underlies this predicament is a deep longing for certainty, the urge “to find some fixed point, some stable rock upon which we can secure our lives against the vicissitudes that constantly threaten us.” He calls this problem the
Cartesian anxiety Cartesian anxiety refers to a dilemma that you either have a fixed and stable foundation for knowledge ''or'' you cannot escape chaos and confusion. The dilemma produces an anxiety that arises from people craving an absolute ground either in the ou ...
, a mostly unacknowledged existential fear that seems to lead us ineluctably to a grand Either/Or: “Either there is some support for our being, a fixed foundation for our knowledge, or we cannot escape the forces of darkness that envelop us with madness, with intellectual and moral chaos”. Although in philosophy this Cartesian anxiety mostly shows up in the discussion of
epistemological Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...
issues, Bernstein points to something much deeper and universal with this notion, something that permeates almost every aspect of life and has serious ethical and political consequences. After all, it has been in the name of religious and ideological absolutes that some of the greatest atrocities and injustices in human history have been perpetrated. Bernstein's strategy to exorcise the Cartesian Anxiety is to challenge its underlying assumption, namely, that the only type of foundations that can support our knowledge of the world and our everyday practices must be unshakeable and eternally fixed. Appealing to the ancient tradition of practical philosophy, and some of its contemporary proponents like Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, and Hans-Georg-Gadamer, Bernstein is able to show that acknowledging our finitude and the fallibility of our beliefs and convictions is not incompatible with truth, knowledge, or getting things right.


Pragmatic fallibilism

For Bernstein, “the spirit of critical pragmatic fallibilism represents what is best in the American tradition and has global significance.” Although, for the most part, fallibilism is seen as an epistemological doctrine, Bernstein argues that we can extrapolate its significance to other realms of human existence: “Fallibilism is the belief that any knowledge claim or, more generally, any validity claim—including moral and political claims—is open to ongoing examination, modification, and critique.” Indeed, more than a specialized scientific or epistemological doctrine, fallibilism is an ethical and political stance, the outlook on life we need to cultivate if we want to exorcise the Cartesian Anxiety and overcome the grand Either/Or between
relativism Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. Ther ...
and
foundationalism Foundationalism concerns philosophical theories of knowledge resting upon non-inferential justified belief, or some secure foundation of certainty such as a conclusion inferred from a basis of sound premises.Simon Blackburn, ''The Oxford Dictio ...
that affects contemporary culture. Bernstein consistently explored the consequences of pragmatic fallibilism in both philosophical thought and also in broader cultural debates about evil (''Radical Evil: A Philosophical Interrogation'' and ''The Abuse of Evil: The Corruption of Politics and Religion since 9/11'' ) and violence (''Violence: Thinking Without Banisters'').


Judgment

Throughout his work, Bernstein defends the importance of practical judgment (''
phronesis ''Phronesis'' ( grc, φρόνησῐς, phrónēsis), translated into English by terms such as prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom, or, colloquially, sense (as in "good sense", "horse sense") is an ancient Greek word for a type of w ...
'') for dealing with the complex social, political, ethical, and cultural issues that confront us in our everyday life. The fact that there are no algorithms or ahistorical decision procedures to deal with these issues must not be a motive of despair (i.e. the Cartesian Anxiety), but rather a first step in the realization that, when it comes to human affairs, the type of reasoning appropriate to praxis is the ability to do justice to particular situations in their particularity. This is what
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
called
phronēsis ''Phronesis'' ( grc, φρόνησῐς, phrónēsis), translated into English by terms such as prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom, or, colloquially, sense (as in "good sense", "horse sense") is an ancient Greek word for a type of w ...
or “practical wisdom”, a form of reasoning and knowledge that involves a distinctive mediation between the universal and the particular: “This mediation is not accomplished by any appeal to technical rules or Method (in the Cartesian sense) or by the subsumption of a pregiven determinate universal to a particular case. The ‘intellectual virtue’ of phronēsis is a form of reasoning, yielding a type of ethical know-how in which what is universal and what is particular are codetermined.” One can view Bernstein's project as an attempt to democratize phronēsis and show the great importance of cultivating dialogical communities where different arguments and opinions are taken into consideration and decisions are the result of a process of serious communal deliberation.


Engaged pluralism and democratic ethos

In addition to pragmatic fallibilism and judgment, Bernstein also highlights the importance of cultivating an engaged pluralism, an ''ethos'' that was also central for the classical American pragmatists, particularly
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...
and Dewey. In his 1988 Presidential Address to the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, Bernstein defined engaged pluralism as the genuine willingness to listen to others, “being vigilant against the dual temptations of simply dismissing what others are saying by falling back on one of those standard defensive ploys where we condemn it as obscure, wooly, or trivial, or thinking we can always easily translate what is alien into our own entrenched vocabularies.” As
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...
observed in his essay “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings”, we tend to be egocentric and insensitive to the feelings, opinions, and convictions of those who are really different from us. “Hence the stupidity and injustice of our opinions, so far as they deal with the significance of alien lives. Hence the falsity of our judgments, so far as they presume to decide in an absolute way on the value of other persons’ conditions or ideals.” To really listen becomes one of the most important virtues in a true democratic community. But of course, listening is always much more than just hearing or even paying attention to what the other is saying; openness, in the words of
Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics. Life Family an ...
(another of Bernstein’s closest interlocutors), “involves recognizing that I myself must accept some things that are against me, even though no one else forces me to do so.” Pluralism, in this ethical sense, is intimately related to democracy, understood not as a set of institutions or political procedures but rather as an ethical way of life, as
John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
proposed. As such, democracy, more than a form of government, is an ongoing practical endeavor, a task that always lies before us and forces us to continually rebuild and reenergize the public space where we meet to discuss the “problems of men”. This, as Bernstein emphasizes, requires commitment, hard work, and the cultivation of certain habits, attitudes, feelings, and institutions. Ultimately, a healthy democracy turns out to be the most effective antidote against the
Cartesian anxiety Cartesian anxiety refers to a dilemma that you either have a fixed and stable foundation for knowledge ''or'' you cannot escape chaos and confusion. The dilemma produces an anxiety that arises from people craving an absolute ground either in the ou ...
and the quest for absolutes, and the best way to reach concrete, yet non-relativist, communal solutions to our public concerns.


Personal life

Bernstein was married to Carol L. Bernstein, former chair of the English Department at
Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
. They had four children. Bernstein died in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on July 4, 2022, at the age of 90.


Books

* ''John Dewey'' (Washington Square Press, 1966) *''Praxis and Action: Contemporary Philosophies of Human Activity'' (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1971) *''The Restructuring of Social and Political Theory'' (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1978) *''Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis'' (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1983) *''Philosophical Profiles: Essays in a Pragmatic Mode'' (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1986) *''The New Constellation: The Ethical-Political Horizons of Modernity/Postmodernity'' (MIT Press, 1992) *''Hannah Arendt and the Jewish Question'' (MIT Press, 1996) *''Freud and the Legacy of Moses'' (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998) *''Radical Evil: A Philosophical Interrogation'' (Blackwell Publishers, 2002) *''The Abuse of Evil: The Corruption of Politics and Religion since 9/11'' (Polity Press, 2006) *''The Pragmatic Turn'' (Polity Press, 2010) *''Violence: Thinking without Banisters'' (Polity Press, 2013)
''Pragmatic Encounters''
(Routledge, 2016) *''Ironic Life'' (Polity Press, 2016) *''Diálogos: Taylor y Bernstein'' (Gedisa Editorial, 2017) *''Why Read Hannah Arendt Now?'' (Polity Press, 2018) *''Pragmatic Naturalism: John Dewey's Living Legacy'' (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2020) *''The Vicissitudes of Nature: From Spinoza to Freud'' (Polity Press, 2022) ;As editor *''John Dewey: On Experience, Nature, and Freedom'' (Liberal Arts Press, 1960) *''Perspectives on Peirce'' (Yale University Press, 1965) *''Habermas and Modernity'' (MIT Press, 1995) *''The Rorty Reader'', ed with Christopher J. Voparil (Blackwell, 2010)


''Festschriften''

*''Pragmatism, Critique, Judgment: Essays for Richard J. Bernstein''. ed. Seyla Benhabib and Nancy Fraser (MIT Press, 2004) *''The Pragmatic Century: Conversations With Richard J. Bernstein''. ed. Sheila Greeve Davaney and Warren G. Frisina (State University of New York Press, 2006) *''Richard J. Bernstein and the Expansion of American Philosophy: Thinking in the Plural''. ed. Edward S. Casey, Megan Craig, and Marcia Morgan (Lexington Books, 2017)


Endnotes


Notes


Works Cited

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External links


Bernstein Interview
WSS Interview #4: Richard Bernstein, 2013.
Bernstein Interview
Interview with the European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, 2014
"The Pragmatic Turn", 2013 Seltzer Visiting Philosopher LectureBernstein's faculty profile at The New SchoolA Dialogue between Richard Rottenburg and Richard Bernstein on Critique and Hope
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Richard J. 1932 births 2022 deaths Jewish American academics Writers from New York City Philosophers from New York (state) Jewish philosophers Columbia University alumni Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Yale University faculty Haverford College faculty The New School faculty Presidents of the Metaphysical Society of America People from Borough Park, Brooklyn Midwood High School alumni 21st-century American Jews