At their best, both American pragmatism and utopianism are about hope. Both encourage people to think about the future as a guide to understanding the past and forming the present. Just as pragmatism has often been misunderstood as valueless instrumentalism, utopianism has been limited to dreams of a static perfect world. In this book, Erin McKenna argues that utopian vision informed by pragmatism results in a process model of utopia that can help form the future based on critical intelligence. Using John Dewey's works with feminist theory and literature, McKenna develops this pragmatist feminist model of utopia.

Erin McKenna is professor of philosophy at the University of Oregon. She is author of Livestock: Food, Fiber, and Friends;American Philosophy: From Wounded Knee to the Present, co-authored with Scott L. Pratt; The Task of Utopia: A Pragmatist and Feminist Perspective; and co-editor with Andrew Light of Animal Pragmatism.