This book investigates the extent to which various
scholarly labels are appropriate for the work of Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Jr. As Louis Menand wrote, “Holmes has been called a
formalist, a positivist, a utilitarian, a realist, a historicist, a
pragmatist, (not to mention a nihilist).” Each of the eight
chapters investigates one label, analyzes the secondary texts that
support the use of the term to characterize Holmes’s philosophy,
and takes a stand on whether or not the category is appropriate for
Holmes by assessing his judicial and nonjudicial publications,
including his books, articles, and posthumously published
correspondences. The thrust of the collection as a whole,
nevertheless, bends toward the stance that Holmes is a pragmatist
in his jurisprudence, ethics, and politics. The final chapter, by
Susan Haack, makes that case explicitly.
Edited by Seth Vannatta, this book will be of particular interest
to students and faculty working in law, jurisprudence, philosophy,
intellectual history, American Studies, political science, and
constitutional theory.
Introduction- Seth Vannatta
1.The Jobbist- Alexander Lian
2.The Nihilist- Raff Donelson
3.The Utilitarian- Frederic Kellogg
4.The Social Darwinist- Seth Vannatta and Sarah
Woolwine
5.The Natural Law Theorist- Allen Mendenhall
6.The Positivist- Catharine Wells
7.The Legal Realist- Brian Butler
8.The Pragmatist- Susan Haack
Seth Vannatta is professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Morgan State University.