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Doing Philosophy Personally: Thinking about Metaphysics, Theism, and Antiblack Racism

Dwayne A. Tunstall

This book contends that Gabriel Marcel’s reflective method is animated by two extraphilosophical commitments. Marcel’s first extraphilosophical commitment is to an ethico-religious insight where the ... More

This book contends that Gabriel Marcel’s reflective method is animated by two extraphilosophical commitments. Marcel’s first extraphilosophical commitment is to an ethico-religious insight where the highest ontological exigency for human persons is to participate in being. Marcel’s second extraphilosophical commitment is to battle the ever-present threat of dehumanization in late Western modernity. The importance of these two commitments to Marcel’s reflective method can be appreciated better if one views it as a teleological suspension of philosophy. Unfortunately, Marcel undermines his second extraphilosophical commitment by neglecting to examine what is perhaps the most prevalent threat of depersonalization in Western modernity, antiblack racism. Given Marcel’s professed commitment to battle against the forces of dehumanization in late Western modernity, any Marcellian reflective method that is faithful to Marcel’s commitment to combat dehumanization should account for how antiblack racism has affected modern human persons, especially Africana persons. Tunstall thinks Gordon’s existential phenomenology is a promising candidate for providing this sort of account.Less

The Drama of Possibility: Experience as Philosophy of Culture

John J. McDermott

Douglas R. Anderson (ed.)

This book traces the trajectory of John J. McDermott's philosophical career through a selection of his essays. Many were originally occasional pieces and address specific issues in ... More

This book traces the trajectory of John J. McDermott's philosophical career through a selection of his essays. Many were originally occasional pieces and address specific issues in American thought and culture. Together they constitute a mosaic of McDermott's philosophy, showing its roots in an American conception of experience. Though he draws heavily on the thought of William James and the pragmatists, McDermott has his own unique perspective on philosophy and American life. Drawing inspiration from American history, from existentialist themes, and from personal experiences, he offers a dramatic consideration of our culture's failures and successes. McDermott crosses disciplinary boundaries, drawing on whatever helps to make sense of the issues with which he is dealing—issues rooted in medical practice, political events, pedagogical habits, and the world of the arts.Less

Faith in Life: John Dewey's Early Philosophy

Donald J. Morse

This book considers John Dewey's early philosophy on its own terms and aims to explicate its key ideas. It does so through the fullest treatment to date of his youthful masterwork, the Psychology. ... More

This book considers John Dewey's early philosophy on its own terms and aims to explicate its key ideas. It does so through the fullest treatment to date of his youthful masterwork, the Psychology. This fuller treatment reveals that the received view, which sees Dewey's early philosophy as unimportant in its own right, is deeply mistaken. In fact, Dewey's early philosophy amounts to an important new form of idealism. More specifically, Dewey's idealism contains a new logic of rupture, which allows us to achieve four things: a focus on discontinuity that challenges all naturalistic views, including Dewey's own later view; a space of critical resistance to events that is at the same time the source of ideals; a faith in the development of ideals that challenges pessimists like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche; and a non-traditional reading of Hegel that invites comparison with cutting-edge Continental philosophers, such as Adorno, Derrida, and Zizek, and even goes beyond them in its systematic approach. In making these discoveries, the book forges a new link between American and European philosophy, showing how they share similar insights and concerns. It also provides an original assessment of Dewey's relationship to his teacher, George Sylvester Morris, and to other important thinkers of the day, giving us a fresh picture of John Dewey, the man and the philosopher, in the early years of his career. This book discusses a wide range of topics, from Dewey's early reflections on Kant and Hegel to the nature of beauty, courage, sympathy, hatred, love, and even death and despair.Less

Freedom and Limits

John Lachs

Patrick Shade (ed.)

This collection of articles by American philosopher, John Lachs, includes Lachs's discussions of philosophy of mind, medical ethics, his theories of mediation and choice-inclusive facts, and his ... More

This collection of articles by American philosopher, John Lachs, includes Lachs's discussions of philosophy of mind, medical ethics, his theories of mediation and choice-inclusive facts, and his recent espousal of anti-perfectionism and stoic pragmatism. Lachs acknowledges the complex tension that arises in celebrating human individuality, intelligence, and creativity while being mindful of the real conditions that curb our endeavors. Meaningful and enriching living are not thereby sacrificed but rather contextualized. As a result, Lachs celebrates moments of immediacy even as he recognizes the comforts and costs associated with material and moral advance. Each of the five parts of the volume highlights a dominant theme in Lachs's philosophy, and each is organized chronologically to map the development of specific arguments and ideas across the years.Less

The Human Eros: Eco-ontology and the Aesthetics of Existence

Thomas Alexander

This book explores themes in classical American philosophy, primarily the thought of John Dewey, but also that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Santayana, and Native American traditions. It argues that ... More

This book explores themes in classical American philosophy, primarily the thought of John Dewey, but also that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Santayana, and Native American traditions. It argues that human beings have an inherent need to experience meaning and value, a “Human Eros.” Our various cultures are symbolic environments or “spiritual ecologies” within which the Human Eros seeks to thrive. This is how we inhabit the earth. Encircling and sustaining our cultural existence is nature, yet Western philosophy has not provided adequate conceptual models for thinking ecologically. The book introduces the idea of “eco-ontology” to explore ways in which this might be done, beginning with the primacy of Nature over Being but also including the recognition of possibility and potentiality as inherent aspects of existence. It argues for the centrality of Dewey’s thought to an effective ecological philosophy. Both “pragmatism” and “naturalism,” it shows, need to be contextualized within an emergentist, relational, nonreductive view of nature and an aesthetic, imaginative, nonreductive view of intelligence.Less

John Dewey Between Pragmatism and Constructivism

Stefan Neubert and Kersten Reich

Larry A. Hickman (ed.)

Many contemporary constructivists are particularly attuned to Dewey's penetrating criticism of traditional epistemology, which offers rich alternatives for understanding processes of ... More

Many contemporary constructivists are particularly attuned to Dewey's penetrating criticism of traditional epistemology, which offers rich alternatives for understanding processes of learning and education, knowledge and truth, and experience and culture. This book, the result of cooperation between the Center for Dewey Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and the Dewey Center at the University of Cologne, provides an excellent example of the international character of pragmatist studies against the backdrop of constructivist concerns. As a part of their exploration of the many points of contact between classical pragmatism and contemporary constructivism, its contributors turn their attention to theories of interaction and transaction, communication and culture, learning and education, community and democracy, theory and practice, and inquiry and methods. Part One is a basic survey of Dewey's pragmatism and its implications for contemporary constructivism. Part Two examines the implications of the connections between Deweyan pragmatism and contemporary constructivism. Part Three presents a lively exchange among the contributors, as they challenge one another and defend their positions and perspectives. As they seek common ground, they articulate concepts such as power, truth, relativism, inquiry, and democracy from pragmatist and interactive constructivist vantage points in ways that are designed to render the preceding essays even more accessible. The concluding discussion demonstrates both the enduring relevance of classical pragmatism and the challenge of its reconstruction from the perspective of the Cologne program of interactive constructivism.Less

Loyalty to Loyalty: Josiah Royce and the Genuine Moral Life

Mathew A. Foust

As a virtue, loyalty has an ambiguous place in our thinking about moral judgments. We lauded the loyalty of firefighters who risked their lives to save others on 9/11, while condemning the loyalty of ... More

As a virtue, loyalty has an ambiguous place in our thinking about moral judgments. We lauded the loyalty of firefighters who risked their lives to save others on 9/11, while condemning the loyalty of those who perpetrated the catastrophe. Responding to such uneasiness and confusion, Loyalty to Loyalty contributes to ongoing conversation about how we should respond to conflicts in loyalty in a pluralistic world. The lone philosopher to base an ethical theory on the virtue of loyalty is Josiah Royce. Loyalty to Loyalty engages Royce's moral theory, revealing how loyalty, rather than being just one virtue among others, is central to living a genuinely moral and meaningful life. Mathew A. Foust shows how the theory of loyalty he advances can be brought to bear on issues such as the partiality/impartiality debate in ethical theory, the role of loyalty in liberatory struggle, and the ethics of whistleblowing and disaster response.Less

The Normative Thought of Charles S. Peirce

Cornelis de Waal and Krysztof Piotr Skowronski (eds)

This volume explores the three normative sciences that Peirce distinguished (aesthetics, ethics, and logic) and their relation to phenomenology and metaphysics. The chapters approach this topic from ... More

This volume explores the three normative sciences that Peirce distinguished (aesthetics, ethics, and logic) and their relation to phenomenology and metaphysics. The chapters approach this topic from a variety of angles, ranging from questions concerning the normativity of logic to an application of the Peirce's semiotics to John Coltrane's “A Love Supreme.” A recurrent question throughout is whether a moral theory can be grounded in the Peirce's work, despite his rather vehement denial that this can be done. Some chapters ask whether a dichotomy exists between theoretical and practical ethics. Other chapters show that Peirce's philosophy embraces meliorism, examine the role played by self-control, seek to ground communication theory in his speculative rhetoric, or examine the normative aspect of the notion of truth.Less

Pets, People, and Pragmatism

Erin McKenna

Pragmatism is used to explore human beings relationships with horses, dogs, and cats. This results in some surprising conclusions such as respectful relations may require humans to continue in some ... More

Pragmatism is used to explore human beings relationships with horses, dogs, and cats. This results in some surprising conclusions such as respectful relations may require humans to continue in some interactions that include training and work. While most animal rights advocates call for the abolition of all such use, a pragmatist needs to respect the history of these beings and find ways for them to express themselves. The biomedical context presents some interesting challenges. Most animal welfare and animal rights advocates say they want to end all use of animals in research, but few really want the end of all research. With some exceptions, most animal advocates are also people who live with petswho want the best care available for them. Caring for horses, dogs, and cats does not necessarily entail ending all research, but it does require us to look carefully at the kinds of use and the care they receive. We need to examine the relationships between humans and horse, dog, and cat beings.Less