This article begins with some preliminary remarks about the place of pragmatism
in recent communication theory. Second, it reviews Habermas’ neo-Kantian model
of rational choice, followed by a review of MacIntyre’s historicist model, the latter
with its emphasis upon practices, traditions, and narratives. Third, it provides a
more explicit account of pragmatism as a philosophy of contingency and plurality,
a philosophy that affirms the possibility of rational choice without foundations.
Fourth, it evaluates bothmodels in light of this account of pragmatism and identifies
a crucial limitation in each. In the final section, I offer some reflections on the limits
of postfoundational reason.