Pluralism, pragmatism and social problems

The increasingly complex problems that advanced societies like ours face cannot be solved by outdated dichotomies between knowledges and interests. Instead a pluralist and pragmatist approach is needed, and two cases are explored: pollution from Canadian pulp and paper mills and hearings on siting nuclear reactors in seismically sensitive zones in the United States. Both suggest the need for pluralism - recognizing the diverse knowledges and interests involved. Integrating those knowledges and interests (pragmatism) helps determine a solution space from which to select specific solutions for the problem. The pluralist and pragmatist approaches are, finally, shown to be preferable to vague notions of muddling through and to two forms of dichotomies between knowledges and interests.