Abstract
This article reconstructs a pragmatist conception of political conviction from the works of William James. Pragmatism is often criticized for failing to account for the force of moral convictions to motivate risky and confrontational political action. This article argues that such criticisms presume a conception of conviction as an experience of moral command that pragmatism rejects. In its place, pragmatism portrays the experience of conviction as acting on faith. Drawing on Gilles Deleuze’s notion of the stutter, I argue that this experience of faith is neither a deliberative justification nor a form of decisionism but rather a style of moral deliberation that is experimental, social and affective. I consider the sole piece of political oratory in James’ corpus, his 1897 oration to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, as a significant example of stuttering conviction. James’ oration seeks to demonstrate the ways that convictions can take hold of actors without relying on deep philosophical foundations or justifications. Although James places his argument squarely within the context of the politics of race, he himself does not attend to the ways his celebration of Shaw obscures the moral experiences of the African–American soldiers of the 54th. In response to this blindness, the final section considers whether or not the martyrdom of John Brown provides a more appropriate conception of conviction than James’ Shaw.
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Notes
On the centrality of strenuousness to James’ individualism see Miller 1997, Flathman (2005, pp. 18–52), Livingston (2012). For a dissenting view that places pluralism as the centre of James’s political vision see Ferguson (2007).
For a thoughtful reconstruction of the rhetoric of James’ oration as an exercise in ‘confrontational therapy’ with his audience see Stob (2012).
Exceptions to this omission include Koopman (2009) and Miller (1997).
Stengers (2009, p. 16) raises a similar point, noting that ‘the mountaineer, experienced and trusting in his own means, can nevertheless fall into the crevice, because the rock that he trusted he would be able to reach was cracked for example: chance is not eliminated by trust’ .
William’s younger brother Wilkinson (or ‘Wilky’) James fought in the 54th and was seriously wounded at the attack on Wagner. It was this connection to the James family that gave the organizers the chance to invite Wilky’s famous brother to speak. William James’ oration drew on both Shaw’s personal letters as well as Wilkison’s account (James, 1891) for source material.
I crib this expression from (Connolly, 2005, p. 36).
This is perhaps not unintentional. James shared the stage that day with Booker T. Washington, who similarly spoke about the moral meaning of the 54th for American democracy (Washington, 1897). In the months leading up to the event James and Washington were in close contact so as to coordinate their respective speeches and not repeat the same material (James, 2000, pp. 242–243, pp. 260–261, p. 273). See also James’ questions about whom he should imagine himself speaking before on p. 249). That James focused on Shaw’s contributions, whereas Washington’s speech focused on the sacrifices of the African–American men of the 54th might well be read less as an omission than a consciously pluralistic reconstruction of the American history, where there is no single or authoritative account on the event, but rather an open and ongoing reconstruction of its meaning among a plurality of partial perspectives in dialogue. I thank Desmond Jagmohan for this point.
On the audience’s response to James and the role of rhetoric in negotiating this careful performance of risk and trust, see Stob (2012).
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Jane Bennett, Samuel Chambers, Simone Chambers, William Connolly, Nathan Gies, Duncan Ivison, Desmond Jagmohan, Isaac Kamola, Peggy Kohn, Colin Koopman, Inder Marwah, Mihaela Mihai, Andrew Murphy, David Rondel, Melissa Williams and two anonymous reviewers at Contemporary Political Theory for their invaluable comments and criticisms of earlier versions of this article. Financial support for this research was provided through a fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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A number of proofing corrections were not included in this article, originally published 23 April 2013. These corrections have been made in this final version.
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Livingston, A. Stuttering Conviction: Commitment and Hesitation in William James’ Oration to Robert Gould Shaw. Contemp Polit Theory 12, 255–276 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2013.2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2013.2