In this essay, Kilpinen responds to Terry Gates, Scott Goble, and Pentti Maattanen, who have provided reviews of his dissertation book "The Enormous Fly-Wheel of Society." As the reviewers noted, the book attempts to make two points simultaneously, and it may be that this made its argument hard to follow. The first point, that thorough knowledge about pragmatist philosophy is a "conditio sine qua non" for the right appreciation of what is the enduring part of early American sociology, led to Kilpenen's sociological interpretation of the "pragmatist theory of action." Furthermore--and this is the second thesis of the book--the pragmatist interpretation of human action is not just one option among many for scholars to choose from, but, in Kilpenen's opinion, is the most viable at the moment. (Contains 2 footnotes.)