Contemporary Pragmatism Volume 10 Number 1 June 2013

Table of Content Contemporary Pragmatism Volume 5 Number 1 June 2008 Catherine LEGG: Argument-Forms Which Turn Invalid Over Infinite Domains: Physicalism as Supertask? Joseph MARGOLIS: Wittgenstein¿s Question and the Ubiquity of Cultural Space Jay SCHULKIN: Cognitive Adaptation: Insights from a Pragmatist Perspective Jay SCHULKIN: Cephalic Organization: Animacy and Agency Lara M. TROUT: C. S. Peirce, Antonio Damasio, and Embodied Cognition: A Contemporary Post-Darwinian Account of Feeling and Emotion in the `Cognition Series¿ Rita RISSER: Industry and Quiescence in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature Lenart SKOF: Pragmatism and Social Ethics: An Intercultural and Phenomenological Approach Andrew STABLES: Semiosis, Dewey and Difference: Implications for Pragmatic Philosophy of Education Book Reviews Scott R. STROUD: Review of Cheryl Misak, ed. New Pragmatists. Jacob GOODSON: Review of Romand Coles and Stanley Hauerwas. Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary: Conversations between a Radical Democrat and a Christian.

What are the implications of philosophical pragmatism for international relations theory and foreign policy practice? According to John Ryder, “a foreign policy built on pragmatist principles is neither naïve nor dangerous. In fact, it is very much what both the U.S. and the world are currently in need of.” Close observers of Barack Obama’s foreign policy statements have also raised the possibility of a distinctly pragmatist approach to international relations. Absent from the three dominant theoretical perspectives in the field—realism, idealism and constructivism—is any mention of pragmatism, except in the very limited, instrumentalist sense of choosing appropriate foreign policy tools to achieve proposed policy objectives. The key commitments of any international relations approach in the pragmatist tradition could include a flexible approach to crafting policy ends, theory integrally related to practice, a concern for both the normative and explanatory dimensions of international relations research, and policy means treated as hypotheses for experimental testing. Following the example of classic pragmatists such as John Dewey and neo-pragmatists like Richard Rorty, international relations scholars and foreign policy practitioners would have to forgo grand theories, instead embracing a situationally-specific approach to understanding and addressing emerging global problems. Unfortunately, commentary on the relationship between philosophical pragmatism and international relations has been limited. The authors in Philosophical Pragmatism and International Relations remedies this lacuna by exploring ways in which philosophical pragmatism, both classic and contemporary, can inform international relations theory and foreign policy practice today.

This important study of the shifting diplomatic efforts around the response to and resolution of the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia is based on the records of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, a key player in the complex diplomacy in the region at the end of the Cold War. The study provides a detailed account of the policies and decision-making of Singapore, as well as the diplomatic maneuverings of the other major parties and powers involved in the Cambodia conflict. It details one member country's input into the process of defining and developing a collective ASEAN position, a process which was formative for future diplomatic efforts by the regional grouping. Ang makes use of a variety of sources contemporary to the period under study, as well as records which have become available post-1991. The use of detailed records from one of the Southeast Asian players is a first for the study of the region's diplomacy. The book describes Singapore's role and illustrate how Singapore's management of the Cambodian issue was shaped by the fundamentals of Singapore's foreign policy. The account also reveals the dynamics of intra-ASEAN relations, as well as ASEAN's foreign relations in the context of the Cambodia problem.