Pragmatism and public administration

This article is a response to three articles that examine the promise of pr agmatism for educational administration. The first, by Professors Zanetti a nd Carr rejects pragmatism outright yet only refers to pragmatism obliquely if at all. This article does not seem sufficiently knowledgeable to provid e any analysis, pro or con. The remaining articles evaluate the promise of pragmatism positively and seem well warranted in their appraisal. The artic le by Professor Snider does a good job of setting the historical context of pragmatism and explaining why it never caught on in public administration, and the article by Professor Evans also provides critical and creative app raisal. This article is an attempt to play the three articles off of each o ther in ways that allow them to illuminate one another.