Wallace Matson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812691
- eISBN:
- 9780199919420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812691.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, a patron of Greek culture, founded in Alexandria, capital of his Egyptian empire, the Library, the greatest depository of Greek literature, and the Museum, a ...
More
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, a patron of Greek culture, founded in Alexandria, capital of his Egyptian empire, the Library, the greatest depository of Greek literature, and the Museum, a research institute. Science made great advances in the Museum. The Library produced great scholars but little new literature. The principal philosophical innovation of the period was the rise of Skepticism, which utterly rejected high beliefs, whether tethered or not. Greek Skepticism is the ancestor of modern Positivism and Pragmatism, not of Cartesian skepticism. It was quite correct for its time, but it is a good thing that it did not prevail, for it would have eliminated the element of imagination that is essential to science.Less
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, a patron of Greek culture, founded in Alexandria, capital of his Egyptian empire, the Library, the greatest depository of Greek literature, and the Museum, a research institute. Science made great advances in the Museum. The Library produced great scholars but little new literature. The principal philosophical innovation of the period was the rise of Skepticism, which utterly rejected high beliefs, whether tethered or not. Greek Skepticism is the ancestor of modern Positivism and Pragmatism, not of Cartesian skepticism. It was quite correct for its time, but it is a good thing that it did not prevail, for it would have eliminated the element of imagination that is essential to science.
Cheryl Misak and Huw Price (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780197266168
- eISBN:
- 9780191865237
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266168.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The pragmatist approach to philosophical problems focuses on the role of disputed notions—for example, truth, value, causation, probability, necessity—in our practices. The insight at the heart of ...
More
The pragmatist approach to philosophical problems focuses on the role of disputed notions—for example, truth, value, causation, probability, necessity—in our practices. The insight at the heart of pragmatism is that our analysis of such philosophical concepts must start with, and remain linked to, human experience and inquiry.
As a self-conscious philosophical stance, pragmatism arose in America in the late nineteenth century, in the work of writers such as Charles Peirce, William James and John Dewey. While popular wisdom would have it that British philosophy thoroughly rejected that of its American cousins, that popular view is coming into dispute. Many distinguished British philosophers have also taken this practical turn, even if few have explicitly identified themselves as pragmatists. This book traces and assesses the influence of American pragmatism on British philosophy, with particular emphasis on Cambridge in the inter-war period (for instance, the work of Frank Ramsey and Ludwig Wittgenstein), on post-war Oxford (for instance, the work of Elizabeth Anscombe, P. F. Strawson and Michael Dummett), and on recent developments (for instance, the work of Simon Blackburn and Huw Price). There is a comprehensive introduction to the topic and the history of pragmatism, and Price and Blackburn, in their contributions, add their most recent thoughts to the debates.Less
The pragmatist approach to philosophical problems focuses on the role of disputed notions—for example, truth, value, causation, probability, necessity—in our practices. The insight at the heart of pragmatism is that our analysis of such philosophical concepts must start with, and remain linked to, human experience and inquiry.
As a self-conscious philosophical stance, pragmatism arose in America in the late nineteenth century, in the work of writers such as Charles Peirce, William James and John Dewey. While popular wisdom would have it that British philosophy thoroughly rejected that of its American cousins, that popular view is coming into dispute. Many distinguished British philosophers have also taken this practical turn, even if few have explicitly identified themselves as pragmatists. This book traces and assesses the influence of American pragmatism on British philosophy, with particular emphasis on Cambridge in the inter-war period (for instance, the work of Frank Ramsey and Ludwig Wittgenstein), on post-war Oxford (for instance, the work of Elizabeth Anscombe, P. F. Strawson and Michael Dummett), and on recent developments (for instance, the work of Simon Blackburn and Huw Price). There is a comprehensive introduction to the topic and the history of pragmatism, and Price and Blackburn, in their contributions, add their most recent thoughts to the debates.
Steven Horst
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195317114
- eISBN:
- 9780199871520
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195317114.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter explores the metaphysical commitments of Cognitive Pluralism. Cognitive Pluralism, as a cognitivist/pragmatist thesis, is opposed to a native realism that assumes that the world divides ...
More
This chapter explores the metaphysical commitments of Cognitive Pluralism. Cognitive Pluralism, as a cognitivist/pragmatist thesis, is opposed to a native realism that assumes that the world divides itself into objects and kinds in a single canonical and mind-independent way, and that it is the job of the mind to accurately reflect how things are in their own right. Cognitivism, by contrast, holds that any way of modeling the world, including our best scientific models, reflects features of the mind's cognitive architecture as well. Cognitivist and pluralist assumptions create further problems for the terms in which contemporary problems in metaphysics of mind are framed. Intuitions about supervenience, the Negative EMC, and even our standard ways of framing issues about modal metaphysics turn out to be problematic. The cognitivist turn also suggests a way in which the psychological gaps are unlike the other gaps, as they are concerned with the relation between subjects and objects, while the others are concerned with relations between two types of objects.Less
This chapter explores the metaphysical commitments of Cognitive Pluralism. Cognitive Pluralism, as a cognitivist/pragmatist thesis, is opposed to a native realism that assumes that the world divides itself into objects and kinds in a single canonical and mind-independent way, and that it is the job of the mind to accurately reflect how things are in their own right. Cognitivism, by contrast, holds that any way of modeling the world, including our best scientific models, reflects features of the mind's cognitive architecture as well. Cognitivist and pluralist assumptions create further problems for the terms in which contemporary problems in metaphysics of mind are framed. Intuitions about supervenience, the Negative EMC, and even our standard ways of framing issues about modal metaphysics turn out to be problematic. The cognitivist turn also suggests a way in which the psychological gaps are unlike the other gaps, as they are concerned with the relation between subjects and objects, while the others are concerned with relations between two types of objects.
David A. Hollinger
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158426
- eISBN:
- 9781400845996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158426.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter interprets William James' entire career in the light of his affinity with the liberal Protestant elite of his time and place on the one hand, and his devotion to the calling of modern ...
More
This chapter interprets William James' entire career in the light of his affinity with the liberal Protestant elite of his time and place on the one hand, and his devotion to the calling of modern science on the other. It takes seriously his many references in Pragmatism to religious searching and indeed to “salvation,” so often left out of account by secular students of his thought. It reads Varieties of Religious Experience as the pivotal point in James' turn from a “separate spheres” defense of religion to an effort to mobilize a community of inquiry willing to test religious claims by experience. Against scholars who prefer to read James' corpus as a synchronic whole, the chapter shows that the meaning of his various works is best grasped when his career is approached diachronically, with each text analyzed according to the stage it marks in the development over time of his preoccupation with religion's relation to science.Less
This chapter interprets William James' entire career in the light of his affinity with the liberal Protestant elite of his time and place on the one hand, and his devotion to the calling of modern science on the other. It takes seriously his many references in Pragmatism to religious searching and indeed to “salvation,” so often left out of account by secular students of his thought. It reads Varieties of Religious Experience as the pivotal point in James' turn from a “separate spheres” defense of religion to an effort to mobilize a community of inquiry willing to test religious claims by experience. Against scholars who prefer to read James' corpus as a synchronic whole, the chapter shows that the meaning of his various works is best grasped when his career is approached diachronically, with each text analyzed according to the stage it marks in the development over time of his preoccupation with religion's relation to science.
Eugene Fontinell
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823220700
- eISBN:
- 9780823284863
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823220700.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
Can we, who have been touched by the scientific, intellectual, and experimental revolutions of modern and contemporary times, still believe that we as individual persons are immortal? Indeed, is ...
More
Can we, who have been touched by the scientific, intellectual, and experimental revolutions of modern and contemporary times, still believe that we as individual persons are immortal? Indeed, is there even good cause to hope that we are? In examining the present relationship of reason to faith, can we find justifying reasons for faith? These are the central questions in this book, a compelling exercise in philosophical theology. Drawing upon the works of William James and the principles of American Pragmatism, the book extrapolates carefully from “data given in experience” to a model of the cosmic process open to the idea that individual identity may survive bodily dissolution. Presupposing that the possibility of personal immortality has been established in the first part, the second part of the book is concerned with desirability. Here, it is shown that, far from diverting attention and energies from the crucial tasks confronting us here and now, such belief can be energizing and life enhancing. The wider importance of the book lies in its pressing both immortality-believers and terminality-believers to explore both the metaphysical presuppositions and the lived consequences of their beliefs. It is the author's expressed hope that such explorations, rather than impeding, will stimulate co-operative efforts to create a richer and more humane community.Less
Can we, who have been touched by the scientific, intellectual, and experimental revolutions of modern and contemporary times, still believe that we as individual persons are immortal? Indeed, is there even good cause to hope that we are? In examining the present relationship of reason to faith, can we find justifying reasons for faith? These are the central questions in this book, a compelling exercise in philosophical theology. Drawing upon the works of William James and the principles of American Pragmatism, the book extrapolates carefully from “data given in experience” to a model of the cosmic process open to the idea that individual identity may survive bodily dissolution. Presupposing that the possibility of personal immortality has been established in the first part, the second part of the book is concerned with desirability. Here, it is shown that, far from diverting attention and energies from the crucial tasks confronting us here and now, such belief can be energizing and life enhancing. The wider importance of the book lies in its pressing both immortality-believers and terminality-believers to explore both the metaphysical presuppositions and the lived consequences of their beliefs. It is the author's expressed hope that such explorations, rather than impeding, will stimulate co-operative efforts to create a richer and more humane community.
Robert Stern
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239108
- eISBN:
- 9780191716942
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239108.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This book consists in a series of chapters that trace the development of a distinctively Hegelian approach to metaphysics and certain central metaphysical issues. It begins with an introduction that ...
More
This book consists in a series of chapters that trace the development of a distinctively Hegelian approach to metaphysics and certain central metaphysical issues. It begins with an introduction that considers this theme as a whole, followed by a section of chapters on Hegel himself, concerning his idealism, his theory of truth, and his claim concerning the rationality of the actual in the Preface to the Philosophy of Right. The following chapters then focus on the way in which certain key metaphysical ideas in Hegel's system, such as his doctrine of the ‘concrete universal’ and his conception of truth, relate to the thinking of the British Idealists on the one hand, and the American Pragmatists on the other. The chapter concludes by examining a critique of Hegel's metaphysical position from the perspective of the ‘continental’ tradition, and in particular Gilles Deleuze.Less
This book consists in a series of chapters that trace the development of a distinctively Hegelian approach to metaphysics and certain central metaphysical issues. It begins with an introduction that considers this theme as a whole, followed by a section of chapters on Hegel himself, concerning his idealism, his theory of truth, and his claim concerning the rationality of the actual in the Preface to the Philosophy of Right. The following chapters then focus on the way in which certain key metaphysical ideas in Hegel's system, such as his doctrine of the ‘concrete universal’ and his conception of truth, relate to the thinking of the British Idealists on the one hand, and the American Pragmatists on the other. The chapter concludes by examining a critique of Hegel's metaphysical position from the perspective of the ‘continental’ tradition, and in particular Gilles Deleuze.
Amy Levine
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719090493
- eISBN:
- 9781526109613
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719090493.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
How does civil society come together and disperse inside a rapidly industrialised and democratised nation? South Korean civil movement organisations is an ethnographic study of the social movements ...
More
How does civil society come together and disperse inside a rapidly industrialised and democratised nation? South Korean civil movement organisations is an ethnographic study of the social movements and advocacy organisations inside South Korea as well as practical methods in democratic transition more generally. The book is based on two years of fieldwork inside a handful of NGOs, NPOs, and think tanks in Seoul as the ‘386 generation’ came to lead during the Roh Moo Hyun presidency (2003-8). It is a rich exploration of the many crises, hopes, practical projects and pragmatic theories that animated South Korean activists, coordinators, lawyers, politicians, ‘social designers’ and academics of various stripes. From the Citizens’ Alliance for the 2000 General Elections (CAGE) to the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, this book tells the stories of consequence to freshly render South Korean politics relevant to many Asian, European, Middle Eastern, and North as well as South American contexts. At the same time, it uniquely frames the theoretical and methodological moments for new ethnographies through the shared, yet disparate experiences of pragmatism, (social) design, and (democratic) transition.Less
How does civil society come together and disperse inside a rapidly industrialised and democratised nation? South Korean civil movement organisations is an ethnographic study of the social movements and advocacy organisations inside South Korea as well as practical methods in democratic transition more generally. The book is based on two years of fieldwork inside a handful of NGOs, NPOs, and think tanks in Seoul as the ‘386 generation’ came to lead during the Roh Moo Hyun presidency (2003-8). It is a rich exploration of the many crises, hopes, practical projects and pragmatic theories that animated South Korean activists, coordinators, lawyers, politicians, ‘social designers’ and academics of various stripes. From the Citizens’ Alliance for the 2000 General Elections (CAGE) to the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, this book tells the stories of consequence to freshly render South Korean politics relevant to many Asian, European, Middle Eastern, and North as well as South American contexts. At the same time, it uniquely frames the theoretical and methodological moments for new ethnographies through the shared, yet disparate experiences of pragmatism, (social) design, and (democratic) transition.
Ryan White
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231171007
- eISBN:
- 9780231539593
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231171007.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The Hidden God revisits the origins of American pragmatism and finds a nascent “posthumanist” critique shaping early modern thought. By reaching as far back as the Calvinist arguments of the American ...
More
The Hidden God revisits the origins of American pragmatism and finds a nascent “posthumanist” critique shaping early modern thought. By reaching as far back as the Calvinist arguments of the American Puritans and their struggle to know a “hidden God,” this book brings American pragmatism closer to contemporary critical theory. Ryan White reads the writings of key American philosophers, including Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, and Charles Sanders Peirce, against modern theoretical works by Niklas Luhmann, Richard Rorty, Jacques Derrida, Sharon Cameron, Cary Wolfe, and Gregory Bateson. This juxtaposition isolates the distinctly posthumanist form of pragmatism that began to arise in these early texts, challenging the accepted genealogy of pragmatic discourse and common definitions of posthumanist critique. Its rigorously theoretical perspective has wide implications for humanities research, enriching investigations into literature, history, politics, and art.Less
The Hidden God revisits the origins of American pragmatism and finds a nascent “posthumanist” critique shaping early modern thought. By reaching as far back as the Calvinist arguments of the American Puritans and their struggle to know a “hidden God,” this book brings American pragmatism closer to contemporary critical theory. Ryan White reads the writings of key American philosophers, including Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, and Charles Sanders Peirce, against modern theoretical works by Niklas Luhmann, Richard Rorty, Jacques Derrida, Sharon Cameron, Cary Wolfe, and Gregory Bateson. This juxtaposition isolates the distinctly posthumanist form of pragmatism that began to arise in these early texts, challenging the accepted genealogy of pragmatic discourse and common definitions of posthumanist critique. Its rigorously theoretical perspective has wide implications for humanities research, enriching investigations into literature, history, politics, and art.
Krister Dylan Knapp
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469631240
- eISBN:
- 9781469631264
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631240.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
In this insightful new book on the remarkable William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, Krister Dylan Knapp provides the first deeply historical and acutely analytical account of ...
More
In this insightful new book on the remarkable William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, Krister Dylan Knapp provides the first deeply historical and acutely analytical account of James's psychical research. While showing that James always maintained a critical stance toward claims of paranormal phenomena like spiritualism, Knapp uses new sources to argue that psychical research held a strikingly central position in James's life. It was crucial to his familial and professional relationships, the fashioning of his unique intellectual disposition, and the shaping of his core doctrines, especially the will-to-believe, empiricism, fideism, and theories of the subliminal consciousness and immortality.
Knapp explains how and why James found in psychical research a way to rethink the well-trodden approaches to classic Euro-American religious thought, typified by the oppositional categories of natural vs. supernatural and normal vs. paranormal. He demonstrates how James eschewed these choices and instead developed a tertiary synthesis of them, an approach Knapp terms tertium quid, the third way. Situating James's psychical research in relation to the rise of experimental psychology and Protestantism's changing place in fin de siècle America, Knapp asserts that the third way illustrated a much broader trend in transatlantic thought as it struggled to navigate the uncertainties and religious adventurism of the modern age.Less
In this insightful new book on the remarkable William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, Krister Dylan Knapp provides the first deeply historical and acutely analytical account of James's psychical research. While showing that James always maintained a critical stance toward claims of paranormal phenomena like spiritualism, Knapp uses new sources to argue that psychical research held a strikingly central position in James's life. It was crucial to his familial and professional relationships, the fashioning of his unique intellectual disposition, and the shaping of his core doctrines, especially the will-to-believe, empiricism, fideism, and theories of the subliminal consciousness and immortality.
Knapp explains how and why James found in psychical research a way to rethink the well-trodden approaches to classic Euro-American religious thought, typified by the oppositional categories of natural vs. supernatural and normal vs. paranormal. He demonstrates how James eschewed these choices and instead developed a tertiary synthesis of them, an approach Knapp terms tertium quid, the third way. Situating James's psychical research in relation to the rise of experimental psychology and Protestantism's changing place in fin de siècle America, Knapp asserts that the third way illustrated a much broader trend in transatlantic thought as it struggled to navigate the uncertainties and religious adventurism of the modern age.
Roland Vogt (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789888083879
- eISBN:
- 9789882209077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888083879.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
EU-China ties have evolved from the early tentative contacts in the late 1970s to a full-blown 'strategic partnership.' But doubt needs to be cast on the foundations of this relationship: what are ...
More
EU-China ties have evolved from the early tentative contacts in the late 1970s to a full-blown 'strategic partnership.' But doubt needs to be cast on the foundations of this relationship: what are the mutual interests and how strategic are they? In fact, EU-China ties are in a transitional period. Gone is the early ignorance and exuberance and now a more pragmatic tone has set in. Europe and China have struggled to define their growing global roles and their positions vis-�is each other. The outcome has been that China has tended to overestimate the EU and what it can deliver for a future multipolar order.Less
EU-China ties have evolved from the early tentative contacts in the late 1970s to a full-blown 'strategic partnership.' But doubt needs to be cast on the foundations of this relationship: what are the mutual interests and how strategic are they? In fact, EU-China ties are in a transitional period. Gone is the early ignorance and exuberance and now a more pragmatic tone has set in. Europe and China have struggled to define their growing global roles and their positions vis-�is each other. The outcome has been that China has tended to overestimate the EU and what it can deliver for a future multipolar order.
Didier Debaise
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474423045
- eISBN:
- 9781474438612
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474423045.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Can experience be thought systematically without transforming the richness of the world as it is lived into reductive philosophical generalities? Can the method of empiricism ever be reconciled with ...
More
Can experience be thought systematically without transforming the richness of the world as it is lived into reductive philosophical generalities? Can the method of empiricism ever be reconciled with a method of systematic cosmological speculation? Didier Debaise’s reading of Whitehead shows clearly what a philosophy that makes this possible looks like, how it works and what is at stake. He focuses in on Whitehead’s attempt to construct a metaphysical system of everything in the universe that exists whilst simultaneously claiming that it can account for every element of our experience: everything enjoyed and perceived, willed or thought.Less
Can experience be thought systematically without transforming the richness of the world as it is lived into reductive philosophical generalities? Can the method of empiricism ever be reconciled with a method of systematic cosmological speculation? Didier Debaise’s reading of Whitehead shows clearly what a philosophy that makes this possible looks like, how it works and what is at stake. He focuses in on Whitehead’s attempt to construct a metaphysical system of everything in the universe that exists whilst simultaneously claiming that it can account for every element of our experience: everything enjoyed and perceived, willed or thought.
Lisi Schoenbach
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195389845
- eISBN:
- 9780199918393
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195389845.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
Modernism has long been understood as a radical repudiation of the past. Reading against the narrative of modernism-as-break, this book traces an alternative strain of modernist thought that grows ...
More
Modernism has long been understood as a radical repudiation of the past. Reading against the narrative of modernism-as-break, this book traces an alternative strain of modernist thought that grows out of pragmatist philosophy and is characterized by its commitment to gradualism, continuity, and recontextualization. It rediscovers a distinctive response to the social, intellectual, and artistic transformations of modernity in the work of Henry James, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Dewey, and William James. These thinkers share an institutionally-grounded approach to change which emphasizes habit, continuity, and daily life over spectacular events, heroic opposition, and radical rupture. They developed an active, dialectical approach to habit, maintaining a critical stance toward mindless repetitions while refusing to romanticize moments of shock or conflict. Through its analysis of pragmatist keywords, including “habit,” “institution,” “prediction,” and “bigness,” the book offers new readings of works by James, Proust, Stein, and Andre Breton, among others. It shows, for instance, how Stein’s characteristic literary innovation-her repetitions-aesthetically materialize the problem of habit; or how institutions in James’s novels-businesses, museums, newspapers, the law, and even the state itself-manage to shape and influence the subtlest of personal observations and private gestures. This study reconstructs an overlooked strain of modernism. In so doing, it helps us to reimagine the stark choice between political quietism and total revolution that has been handed down to us as modernism’s legacy.Less
Modernism has long been understood as a radical repudiation of the past. Reading against the narrative of modernism-as-break, this book traces an alternative strain of modernist thought that grows out of pragmatist philosophy and is characterized by its commitment to gradualism, continuity, and recontextualization. It rediscovers a distinctive response to the social, intellectual, and artistic transformations of modernity in the work of Henry James, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Dewey, and William James. These thinkers share an institutionally-grounded approach to change which emphasizes habit, continuity, and daily life over spectacular events, heroic opposition, and radical rupture. They developed an active, dialectical approach to habit, maintaining a critical stance toward mindless repetitions while refusing to romanticize moments of shock or conflict. Through its analysis of pragmatist keywords, including “habit,” “institution,” “prediction,” and “bigness,” the book offers new readings of works by James, Proust, Stein, and Andre Breton, among others. It shows, for instance, how Stein’s characteristic literary innovation-her repetitions-aesthetically materialize the problem of habit; or how institutions in James’s novels-businesses, museums, newspapers, the law, and even the state itself-manage to shape and influence the subtlest of personal observations and private gestures. This study reconstructs an overlooked strain of modernism. In so doing, it helps us to reimagine the stark choice between political quietism and total revolution that has been handed down to us as modernism’s legacy.
John Kaag
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823254934
- eISBN:
- 9780823261031
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823254934.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
In this book, John Kaag explores the following questions: What is the imagination? And where does the imagination come from? In order to answer these questions, Kaag explains the way that the concept ...
More
In this book, John Kaag explores the following questions: What is the imagination? And where does the imagination come from? In order to answer these questions, Kaag explains the way that the concept of the imagination has been articulated in the history of Western philosophy, concentrating on its development in 18th century German idealism (primarily in the writings of Kant and Schiller) and in 19th century American pragmatism (embodied in the writings of C.S. Peirce). Kaag's historical approach to the imagination reveals important affinities between German idealism and the philosophy of C.S. Peirce. The primary goal of this intellectual history, however, is to reveal crucial point concerning the definition and the origins of the imagination and human creativity. The imagination should not be regarded as a narrow aesthetic faculty, but rather as a process that plays a vital role in human cognition and meaning-making. The imagination has long been regarded as belonging to artists and poets, but what Kaag's account suggests is that this artistic process emerges from natural processes, making sense of Kant's very bold claim that human genius is a “gift of nature.” Kant, Schiller and Peirce—with increasing specificity—argue that the dynamics of nature are in some way continuous with the creativity of human thinking and doing. This position regarding the “nature of the imagination” encourages Kaag to reconsider the unique form of idealism that emerges in post-Kantian thought (an idealism like Peirce's that takes seriously the findings of the empirical sciences). In the final sections of the book, Kaag turns to contemporary cognitive neuroscience to see if this emerging discipline can help chart the way of the imagination.Less
In this book, John Kaag explores the following questions: What is the imagination? And where does the imagination come from? In order to answer these questions, Kaag explains the way that the concept of the imagination has been articulated in the history of Western philosophy, concentrating on its development in 18th century German idealism (primarily in the writings of Kant and Schiller) and in 19th century American pragmatism (embodied in the writings of C.S. Peirce). Kaag's historical approach to the imagination reveals important affinities between German idealism and the philosophy of C.S. Peirce. The primary goal of this intellectual history, however, is to reveal crucial point concerning the definition and the origins of the imagination and human creativity. The imagination should not be regarded as a narrow aesthetic faculty, but rather as a process that plays a vital role in human cognition and meaning-making. The imagination has long been regarded as belonging to artists and poets, but what Kaag's account suggests is that this artistic process emerges from natural processes, making sense of Kant's very bold claim that human genius is a “gift of nature.” Kant, Schiller and Peirce—with increasing specificity—argue that the dynamics of nature are in some way continuous with the creativity of human thinking and doing. This position regarding the “nature of the imagination” encourages Kaag to reconsider the unique form of idealism that emerges in post-Kantian thought (an idealism like Peirce's that takes seriously the findings of the empirical sciences). In the final sections of the book, Kaag turns to contemporary cognitive neuroscience to see if this emerging discipline can help chart the way of the imagination.
Mathew A. Foust
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823242696
- eISBN:
- 9780823242733
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823242696.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
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
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.
Sami Pihlstrom
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823251582
- eISBN:
- 9780823252763
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251582.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
This book responds to the currently unclear situation in the philosophy of religion by developing a version of pragmatic pluralism. This position is developed through a critical articulation and ...
More
This book responds to the currently unclear situation in the philosophy of religion by developing a version of pragmatic pluralism. This position is developed through a critical articulation and defense of pragmatist philosophy of religion, largely based on William James’s and John Dewey’s ideas. The historical background of pragmatism in Kantian transcendental philosophy as well as more recent neopragmatist developments in the philosophy of religion (e.g., Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam) are also taken into account. The book thus seeks to move beyond the mainstream debates on theism and its standard alternatives by understanding religion as, primarily, a set of human practices with their distinctive goals and interests different from those operative in other practices. In addition to thus critically transforming the available accounts of religious belief and religious language, special problems in contemporary philosophy of religion, such as the problem of evil, are also discussed from a pragmatist and pluralist perspective. In particular, it is argued that pragmatism should avoid any attempts to justify, or explain away, evil in terms of a “theodicy”. More generally, it is suggested that an adequate pragmatist philosophy of religion must remain antireductionistic – seeking to incorporate a plurality of perspectives on religion – and ought to view the ethical and metaphysical dimensions of the philosophy of religion as inextricably entangled.Less
This book responds to the currently unclear situation in the philosophy of religion by developing a version of pragmatic pluralism. This position is developed through a critical articulation and defense of pragmatist philosophy of religion, largely based on William James’s and John Dewey’s ideas. The historical background of pragmatism in Kantian transcendental philosophy as well as more recent neopragmatist developments in the philosophy of religion (e.g., Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam) are also taken into account. The book thus seeks to move beyond the mainstream debates on theism and its standard alternatives by understanding religion as, primarily, a set of human practices with their distinctive goals and interests different from those operative in other practices. In addition to thus critically transforming the available accounts of religious belief and religious language, special problems in contemporary philosophy of religion, such as the problem of evil, are also discussed from a pragmatist and pluralist perspective. In particular, it is argued that pragmatism should avoid any attempts to justify, or explain away, evil in terms of a “theodicy”. More generally, it is suggested that an adequate pragmatist philosophy of religion must remain antireductionistic – seeking to incorporate a plurality of perspectives on religion – and ought to view the ethical and metaphysical dimensions of the philosophy of religion as inextricably entangled.
Lisi Schoenbach
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195389845
- eISBN:
- 9780199918393
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195389845.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
Chapter One traces philosophical treatments of habit from Aristotle and Burke through Walter Pater and Viktor Shklovsky. It examines pragmatism’s distinctively modern contributions to this genealogy ...
More
Chapter One traces philosophical treatments of habit from Aristotle and Burke through Walter Pater and Viktor Shklovsky. It examines pragmatism’s distinctively modern contributions to this genealogy and offers extended readings of the role of habit in Dewey and William James. The chapter argues that pragmatic modernism shares with the historical avant-garde a focus on the relation between habit and shock, and that-despite meaningful differences in tone and emphasis-both consider the consequences of this relation for social change. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the surprising affinities between representations of habit in André Breton’s Nadja (1928), Walter Benjamin’s essays on Surrealism, and Deweyan pragmatism.Less
Chapter One traces philosophical treatments of habit from Aristotle and Burke through Walter Pater and Viktor Shklovsky. It examines pragmatism’s distinctively modern contributions to this genealogy and offers extended readings of the role of habit in Dewey and William James. The chapter argues that pragmatic modernism shares with the historical avant-garde a focus on the relation between habit and shock, and that-despite meaningful differences in tone and emphasis-both consider the consequences of this relation for social change. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the surprising affinities between representations of habit in André Breton’s Nadja (1928), Walter Benjamin’s essays on Surrealism, and Deweyan pragmatism.
Kenneth W. Stikkers
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230181
- eISBN:
- 9780823235339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230181.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
This chapter discusses the problematic reception of Pragmatism in Europe, especially Germany, in the early twentieth century. It examines the important role played by ...
More
This chapter discusses the problematic reception of Pragmatism in Europe, especially Germany, in the early twentieth century. It examines the important role played by American Pragmatism, especially Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, in the development of the sociology of knowledge and reflects on what lessons one might learn from such an historical investigation for social constructivist thought today. It looks into Max Scheler's complex reaction to the works of Peirce and James as their versions of Pragmatism relate to Scheler's own sociology of knowledge. The chapter discusses some of the reasons German scholars have been slow to engage Dewey's ideas, and demonstrates some of the ways in which problems of translation still affect international studies in Pragmatism.Less
This chapter discusses the problematic reception of Pragmatism in Europe, especially Germany, in the early twentieth century. It examines the important role played by American Pragmatism, especially Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, in the development of the sociology of knowledge and reflects on what lessons one might learn from such an historical investigation for social constructivist thought today. It looks into Max Scheler's complex reaction to the works of Peirce and James as their versions of Pragmatism relate to Scheler's own sociology of knowledge. The chapter discusses some of the reasons German scholars have been slow to engage Dewey's ideas, and demonstrates some of the ways in which problems of translation still affect international studies in Pragmatism.
Marcelo Dascal
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199862184
- eISBN:
- 9780199979950
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862184.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter examines the nature of the interrelations between morality and occupation. It leaves open the possibility that the implications of this are not a result of one-way causal relations, but ...
More
This chapter examines the nature of the interrelations between morality and occupation. It leaves open the possibility that the implications of this are not a result of one-way causal relations, but perhaps of a two-way interaction. Dascal presents an open-ended, innovative, multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary approach that could pave the way to progress in finding a resolution to a conflict that has been described as “an ostensibly intractable ethno-national conflict”.Less
This chapter examines the nature of the interrelations between morality and occupation. It leaves open the possibility that the implications of this are not a result of one-way causal relations, but perhaps of a two-way interaction. Dascal presents an open-ended, innovative, multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary approach that could pave the way to progress in finding a resolution to a conflict that has been described as “an ostensibly intractable ethno-national conflict”.
Neta Oren, Daniel Bar-Tal, Tamir Magal and Eran Halperin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199862184
- eISBN:
- 9780199979950
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199862184.003.0005
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
The chapter explains how the psychological legitimization of the occupation emerged by presenting the various orientations regarding the status of the occupied territories and the perceptions of the ...
More
The chapter explains how the psychological legitimization of the occupation emerged by presenting the various orientations regarding the status of the occupied territories and the perceptions of the Palestinian nation that have prevailed among Israeli Jews from 1967 until the present. It focuses on their reflection in the platforms of the political parties, in the beliefs of the leaders and in public opinion. Viewing the territories as being liberated because they are part of the Jewish homeland, and as belonging exclusively to Jews, and/or that these territories are of supreme importance to secure the existence of the State of Israel, has had imprinting effects on the issue of determining borders, removal of settlements and the division of Jerusalem, as well as on the establishment of a Palestinian State. This view was marginal before the 1967 war, but with the conquest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip it has become a dominant position among the Jewish-Israeli leaders, elite and the public.Less
The chapter explains how the psychological legitimization of the occupation emerged by presenting the various orientations regarding the status of the occupied territories and the perceptions of the Palestinian nation that have prevailed among Israeli Jews from 1967 until the present. It focuses on their reflection in the platforms of the political parties, in the beliefs of the leaders and in public opinion. Viewing the territories as being liberated because they are part of the Jewish homeland, and as belonging exclusively to Jews, and/or that these territories are of supreme importance to secure the existence of the State of Israel, has had imprinting effects on the issue of determining borders, removal of settlements and the division of Jerusalem, as well as on the establishment of a Palestinian State. This view was marginal before the 1967 war, but with the conquest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip it has become a dominant position among the Jewish-Israeli leaders, elite and the public.
Christopher Tirres
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780823241354
- eISBN:
- 9780823241392
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823241354.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
In this chapter, Christopher Tirres documents the extensive and long-established engagement by Latina/o scholars of the United States-grown philosophical tradition known as pragmatism. Tirres aims to ...
More
In this chapter, Christopher Tirres documents the extensive and long-established engagement by Latina/o scholars of the United States-grown philosophical tradition known as pragmatism. Tirres aims to show how both James and Dewey can provide us with some tools to engage the religious experience of Latinas/os productively and approvingly. At the same time, the Latina/o experience raises a series of challenges for pragmatism as a distinct U.S. philosophical tradition that has yet to be engaged seriously by the mainstream. Tirres argues that Latina/o reflections on the ineradicable social dimension of faith and religious practice can be a major corrective to the subjectivistic and individualistic appreciation of religion that is found in pragmatist classical thinkers, such as Dewey and James. Tirres's advocacy for a Latina/o appropriation of pragmatism is predicated on the argument that it provides epistemic tools that can be judiciously and productively used in the project of decolonizing religion as a by-product of the decolonization of epistemology.Less
In this chapter, Christopher Tirres documents the extensive and long-established engagement by Latina/o scholars of the United States-grown philosophical tradition known as pragmatism. Tirres aims to show how both James and Dewey can provide us with some tools to engage the religious experience of Latinas/os productively and approvingly. At the same time, the Latina/o experience raises a series of challenges for pragmatism as a distinct U.S. philosophical tradition that has yet to be engaged seriously by the mainstream. Tirres argues that Latina/o reflections on the ineradicable social dimension of faith and religious practice can be a major corrective to the subjectivistic and individualistic appreciation of religion that is found in pragmatist classical thinkers, such as Dewey and James. Tirres's advocacy for a Latina/o appropriation of pragmatism is predicated on the argument that it provides epistemic tools that can be judiciously and productively used in the project of decolonizing religion as a by-product of the decolonization of epistemology.
