Abstract

American pragmatism, religion, and race form a strange yet generative constellation. Figures like William James, John Dewey, and George Santayana, for instance, famously reimagine religious piety in the aftermath of Darwin’s revolution against traditional metaphysical attachments. For these authors, religiosity does not require a commitment to supernatural powers or agents but can be expressed in gratitude and awe toward the immanent, natural sources of human existence. More recently, pragmatism has been helpful for authors to respond critically to the problem of race within America and modern life more broadly. Although the classical pragmatists did not confront race in a systematic manner, contemporary thinkers ..