SOURCE: "William James' Morals and Julien Benda's: It Is Not Pragmatism That Is Opportunist," in Commentary, Vol. 5, No. 1, January, 1948, pp. 46-50.

Dewey was one of the most celebrated American philosophers of the twentieth century and the leading philosopher of Pragmatism after the death of William James. Dewey criticized the detached pursuit of truth for its own sake and advocated a philosophy with the specific aim of seeking improvements in various spheres of human life. In the following essay, he offers a response to Benda's criticism of the American philosophical school of Pragmatism.

In his article, "The Attack on Western Morality" (Commentary, November 1947), M. Julien Benda chose to include what he regards as pragmatic philosophy as a leading figure in that attack. In fact, he assigns to it, along with and by the side of Russian Bolshevist philosophy, a place in the very front rank of the intellectual forces...