The Soul Of Classical American Philosophy

The Soul of Classical American Philosophy is an introduction to the thought of William James, Josiah Royce, and Charles Sanders Peirce, particularly in terms of the ethical and the spiritual. Writing for the nonspecialist in a straightforward style, Richard P. Mullin brings together the central ideas of these three key figures of classical American Pragmatism and explores their engagement with issues of truth, the meaning of self, free will, moral values, community, scientific thinking, and the relationship with the transcendent. He also addresses the growing international interest in American philosophy and sheds light on a defining movement in its history.

Charles S. Peirce, William James, Josiah Royce, George Santayana, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead: each of these individuals is an original and historically important thinker; each is an essential contributor to the period, perspective and tradition of classical American philosophy; and each speaks imaginatively and wisely about our global society, its problems, and possibilities for improvement. From the initiative of pragmatism in approximately 1870 to Dewey's final work after World War II, classical American philosophy has come to represent the critical articulation of attitudes, outlooks, and forms of life embedded in the culture from which it arose. John Stuhr has collected the works of these foremost thinkers to present a comprehensive collection in American philosophy, and provides introductory, interpretive and critical thoughts about the vision, strengths, difficulties and contemporary significance of these formative philosophers.

Charles S. Peirce, William James, Josiah Royce, George Santayana, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead: each of these individuals is an original and historically important thinker; each is an essential contributor to the period, perspective, and tradition of classical American philosophy; and each speaks directly, imaginatively, critically, and wisely to our contemporary global society, its distant possibilities for improvement, and its massive, pressing problems. From the initiative of pragmatism in approximately 1870 to Dewey's final work after World War II, classical American philosophy has come to represent the critical articulation of attitudes, outlooks, and forms of life imbedded in the culture from which it arose. John Stuhr brings together the works of these foremost thinkers to present a comprehensive collection in American philosophy. Extensive introductory essays, written especially for this volume by leading scholars of the subject, provide not only the bibliographical and cultural contexts necessary to a full appreciation of each thinker, but also original critical and interpretive philosophical observations.

In Classical American Philosophy: Poiesis in the Public Square, Rebecca Farinas takes seven major figures from the American philosophical canon and examines their relationship with an artistic or scientific interlocutor. It is a unique insight into the origins of American philosophy and through case studies such as the friendship between Alain Locke and the biologist E.E. Just and the collaboration between Jane Addams and George Herbert Mead, Farinas provides a new insight into these thinkers' ideas. Her new perspective allows her to move beyond relational aesthetics to consider these theorists' phenomenological, metaphysical, religious and cosmological ideas and reapply them to the modern world. Indeed, the partnerships she examines have proved especially valuable to newer philosophical fields like value theory, ethics, pedagogy and semiotics. Her links between art and science also provide new vantage points on our society's continuing artistic endeavours and technological advances and introduce an exciting new perspective on early American philosophy and its ensuing movements.

In Classical American Philosophy: Poiesis in the Public Square, Rebecca Farinas takes seven major figures from the American philosophical canon and examines their relationship with an artistic or scientific interlocutor. It is a unique insight into the origins of American philosophy and through case studies such as the friendship between Alain Locke and the biologist E.E. Just and the collaboration between Jane Addams and George Herbert Mead, Farinas provides a new insight into these thinkers' ideas. Her new perspective allows her to move beyond relational aesthetics to consider these theorists' phenomenological, metaphysical, religious and cosmological ideas and reapply them to the modern world. Indeed, the partnerships she examines have proved especially valuable to newer philosophical fields like value theory, ethics, pedagogy and semiotics. Her links between art and science also provide new vantage points on our society's continuing artistic endeavours and technological advances and introduce an exciting new perspective on early American philosophy and its ensuing movements.

The epic wisdom contained in a lost library helps the author turn his life around John Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It is James’s question “Is life worth living?” that guides this remarkable book. The books Kaag discovers in the Hocking library are crawling with insects and full of mold. But he resolves to restore them, as he immediately recognizes their importance. Not only does the library at West Wind contain handwritten notes from Whitman and inscriptions from Frost, but there are startlingly rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As Kaag begins to catalog and read through these priceless volumes, he embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophy—self-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendence—and to a brilliant young Kantian who joins him in the restoration of the Hocking books. Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is ultimately about love, freedom, and the role that wisdom can play in turning one’s life around.

The Encyclopedia of American Philosophy provides coverage of the major figures, concepts, historical periods and traditions in American philosophical thought. Containing over 600 entries written by scholars who are experts in the field, this Encyclopedia is the first of its kind. It is a scholarly reference work that is accessible to the ordinary reader by explaining complex ideas in simple terms and providing ample cross-references to facilitate further study. The Encyclopedia of American Philosophy contains a thorough analytical index and will serve as a standard, comprehensive reference work for universities and colleges. Topics covered include: Great philosophers: Emerson, Dewey, James, Royce, Peirce, Santayana Subjects: Pragmatism, Progress, the Future, Knowledge, Democracy, Growth, Truth Influences on American Philosophy: Hegel, Aristotle, Plato, British Enlightenment, Reformation Self-Assessments: Joe Margolis, Donald Davidson, Susan Haack, Peter Hare, John McDermott, Stanley Cavell Ethics: Value, Pleasure, Happiness, Duty, Judgment, Growth Political Philosophy: Declaration of Independence, Democracy, Freedom, Liberalism, Community, Identity

American philosophers around the turn of the twentieth century offer a treasure of principles that can usefully guide our life. In a personal letter to philosopher Josiah Royce, the pragmatic philosopher Charles S. Pierce admitted that while his logic provided security by avoiding error, it lacked the quality of "uberty," or being life-giving. Royce developed a view that would lead us to do something more, to practice the good of harmony over chaotic disharmony. Read this book if you want to learn how ethics can direct you to live a fuller life and to enable others to do the same.