Pragmatism's founder, C. S. Peirce, initially envisioned philosophy as a means of rationally validating our beliefs and actions. Afterward, William James changed pragmatism into a way of undermining commitment to rational cogency. With the subsequent turn of various contemporary pragmatisms to relativism and subjectivism, such irrational tendencies have become still more prominent. Vagaries of Value aims to create a version of realistic and rationalistic pragmatism that is systemically viable and does justice to traditional pragmatism's salient insights. Nicholas Rescher strives to return pragmatism to its realistic and objectivistic roots in a detailed survey of issues across the whole board of philosophical thought, action, and evaluation. Rescher argues that the crisis of pragmatism created by today's subjective tendencies should be met by adopting not a revisionary, but a reconstructive understanding of pragmatism, keeping close to its Peircean roots. He argues that such a turning does not mitigate against the pragmatic program's practical orientation, but provides an opportunity for sharpening our understanding of how pragmatism can and should be developed.

In my poem 'Life's Vagaries' I describe observations of a tattooed female, shuffling along in the market place with her boyfriend and the sign on a nearby church inviting people to 'light candles'. My emotional response is to juxtapose the meaning of love with religion. This book of poems expresses a wide range of experiences as I create responses to major themes in life such as birth, love and death. Covering over seventy years, the poems show how an early religious upbringing can leave its almost 'Freudian' imprint. This can be seen in 'Lessons of War' one of my early memories. My interest in philosophy is demonstrated in the poem 'Stages of Life in a Dressing Gown' where I reach a mid-life crisis and almost press the self destruct button...but thankfully recover to continue the journey. Hope you will join the journey with me and see life from a different perspective.

Originally published in 1961. A constant influence on human action is that of proprieties, personal and social. These attitudes and traditions defining what is proper are largely logical in origin, but chance has a way of upsetting them. Even theory, which is part of human action, is subject to this influence. Dr. Hammond takes a novel approach to this philosophical theme. His topics of discussion include perception, the role of symbols in poetry and science, the definition of good and good use in language, space and the motion of the earth, the psychology of love, attitudes toward gambling, and a defense of horse racing. This unorthodox approach results in an exceptionally imaginative and thought-provoking book as well as a strong defense of deontology.

Memories and Vagaries have been out of print for long. Death was due to natural cause, and the few mourners who accompanied the book to the common grave of oblivion, have so far borne their loss with stubborn resignation. So have I, until the long-forgotten book was read to me the other day by a friendly voice. As I listened with a compassionate smile on my lips to these humble stories, I suddenly felt a pang in my heart, and I wished I could write to-day just such a book as this with all its shortcomings, its boyish boisterousness, its guileless self-consciousness, its incorrigible joie de vivre and its unshaken faith. Alas! I shall wish it in vain, it is my youth I wish for! La vie s’en va, Madame, la vie s’en va ! Hélas! la vie non, mais nous, nous en allons.