Round 3: Tossup 12
A thinker from this school of thought who discussed normal and abnormal discourses in his conversational approach to knowledge described “private” writers as ironists. A thinker from this school included “tenacity” and “authority” as the first of his four methods of fixing our beliefs. The author of Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, (*) Richard Rorty, was a leading figure of this school’s “neo” branch. The example of a squirrel going around a tree appears in a book from this school which asserts that what is true is what proves itself useful in experience. For 10 points, what American school of philosophy’s members included C. S. Peirce (“purse”) and William James? ■END■
ANSWER: pragmatism [accept neo-pragmatism; or Pragmatic school; accept Pragmatism: A New Name For Some Old Ways of Thinking]
<Philosophy, Aveek Sarkar> | VAULT II Packet 03
= Average correct buzzpoint
Buzzes
| Player | Team | Opponent | Buzzpoint | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shishir Bharadwaj | Lexington A | Mansfield B | 54 | 10 |
| Suzara Khadka | Waltham A | Mansfield A | 68 | 10 |
| Andrew Gao | Belmont A | Wellesley | 70 | 10 |
| Daniel Sheffield | Belmont B | Lexington B | 70 | 10 |
Summary
| Tournament | Edition | Match | Heard | Conv. % | Power % | Neg % | Avg. Buzz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAULT II at Georgia Tech | 2026-01-24 | ✓ | 6 | 100% | 17% | 0% | 60.83 |
| Triangle Cup | 2026-03-13 | ✓ | 3 | 67% | 0% | 33% | 59.50 |
| VAULT II at Eden Prairie HS | 2026-03-13 | ✓ | 3 | 100% | 0% | 33% | 85.00 |
| VAULT II at McGill | 2026-03-13 | ✓ | 4 | 50% | 25% | 25% | 71.50 |
| VAULT II at UCSB | 2026-03-13 | ✓ | 5 | 80% | 20% | 20% | 75.75 |
| VAULT II Northern UK | 2026-04-24 | ✓ | 3 | 67% | 0% | 0% | 94.00 |
| VAULT II Southern UK | 2026-04-24 | ✓ | 4 | 25% | 0% | 75% | 109.00 |
| VAULT II at Harvard | 2026-04-30 | ✓ | 4 | 100% | 0% | 0% | 65.50 |
| VAULT II at MINT | 2026-06-19 | ✓ | 5 | 40% | 0% | 0% | 108.50 |
| VAULT II Stanford Online | 2026-07-17 | ✓ | 8 | 100% | 63% | 13% | 54.75 |