I mentioned in yesterday's post about pragmatism that no matter what labels I attached to the two kinds of pragmatists I was trying to identify, we would invariably get sloppy in our actual use of the words. That helps explain why to be called a pragmatist is sometimes a compliment and sometimes an epithet. Actually a discussion of pragmatism is richer still.
In today's National Review Online, Jonah Goldberg tackles the subject from a different angle. Apropos of President Obama's assertion at the meeting with congressional Republicans last week, Goldberg contrasts pragmatist, which Obama claims he is, with ideologue, which he insists he's not.
For those of you familiar, a discussion of Pragmatist versus Ideologue parallels quite nicely with investigations of Realism versus Idealism in international politics, and Induction versus Deduction in philosophy/epistemology.
Anyway, check out Goldberg's piece at: http://article.nationalreview.com/423680/obama-appears-blinded-by-his-own-ideological-biases/jonah-goldberg?page=1
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