Nick Gall

Artistic representation of an open book with human faces on opposite pages staring in different directions, birds and cages representing metaphors.

While the poet's goal is to put imaginative notions into another person's head, ironists instead seek to change themselves.

Blog Philosophy

An Ironist Must Learn to Listen Poetically

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 11 min read Nick Gall Pragmatism, Richard Rorty, Robert Frost

While the poet’s goal is to put imaginative notions into another person’s head, ironists instead seek to change themselves.

An abstract illustration of racially diverse people looking to the side, representing beta-modernism.

If metamodernism means a future without tragic conflicts, maybe we're better off with beta-modernism, instead.

Blog Philosophy

Give Me Beta-Modernism, Instead

April 4, 2023July 10, 2023 9 min read Nick Gall Metamodernism, Modernism, Pluralism, Postmodernism

If metamodernism means a future without tragic conflicts, maybe we’re better off with beta-modernism, instead.

A romantic oil painting featuring the pragmatist philosophers John Dewey and Richard Rorty sitting next to gentle streams multiplying away from them into the background.

Contrasting with hope in a fixed or eternal order, pragmatists John Dewey and Richard Rorty connect hope to continual growth and conversation.

Essays Philosophy

Dewey and Rorty: Sending Pragmatist Hopes in New Directions

November 3, 2022March 6, 2023 18 min read Nick Gall Hope, John Dewey, Meliorism, Pragmatism, Richard Rorty, William James

Contrasting with hope in a fixed or eternal order, pragmatists John Dewey and Richard Rorty connect hope to continual growth and conversation.

A romantic oil painting of three Victorian women overlooking majestic mountain peaks.

While pragmatists accept the tragic and boundless nature of a constantly changing and foundationless reality, William James offers hope in a naturalized theism.

Essays Philosophy

What Can Pragmatists Hope for in a Boundless World?

October 27, 2022March 2, 2023 20 min read Nick Gall Charles Sanders Peirce, Chauncey Wright, Hope, Meliorism, Pragmatism, William James

While pragmatists accept the tragic and boundless nature of a constantly changing and foundationless reality, William James offers hope in a naturalized theism.