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Summary
Drawing on the work of popular American writers, American philosophers, and Continental thinkers, this book provides a new interpretation of pragmatism and American philosophy.
"Stuhr's way of relating the American philosophical tradition to contemporary problems is genuinely enlightening. He contributes to the great revival of pragmatism by being one of its most sensible and sensitive interpreters." -- John Lachs, Vanderbilt University
Drawing on the work of popular American writers, American philosophers, and Continental thinkers, this book provides a new interpretation of pragmatism and American philosophy. The book critically examines the pragmatism of American philosophers such as Emerson, Peirce, James, Royce, Santayana, and Dewey, as well as the postmodernism of Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, and Lyotard, and addresses pressing individual and social problems in genuinely original ways that will be useful to everyone working in both traditions in philosophy, literary theory, political economy, and cultural studies. Written in an engaging, passionate style, Genealogical Pragmatism develops compelling new directions for critical thought, personal life, and community.
"Stuhr is not only an informed expositor of the classical American pragmatists; he is also a pragmatic philosopher in his own right who makes use of the rich resources available to a contemporary critic of our social practices and institutions. This work is useful, engaging, and challenging." -- Vincent Colapietro, author of Peirce's Approach to Self: A Semiotic Perspective on Human Subjectivity
"What I like most about this book is its urgency and bravery. Stuhr moves effortlessly from abstract-seeming philosophical issues to extremely concrete political and personal concerns. In every case, there is the same sense of writing from need and commitment rather than professional exigency. By the time he's done, his notion of a 'disillusioned pragmatism' that faces death and urges us to action is very compelling indeed. The scholarship is beyond sound: the treatment of the major figures in American philosophy, particularly of James and Dewey, is masterly." -- Crispin Sartwell, author of Obscenity, Anarchy, Reality
"Makes pragmatism come alive. Stuhr is an engaging and very clear writer, and this book makes a vital contribution to the current, yeasty reevaluation and reappreciation of pragmatism." -- Bruce Wilshire, editor of William James: The Essential Writings
John J. Stuhr is Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. He is editor of Philosophy and the Reconstruction of Culture: Pragmatic Essays after Dewey, also published by SUNY Press, and has written or edited seven other books.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
I. Philosophy
1. The Humanities, Inc.
2. Do American Philosophers Exist? Visions of American Philosophy and Culture
3. Re-Visioning Philosophy and the Organization of Knowledges
4. Pragmatism versus Fundamentalism
5. The Idols of the Twilight: Pragmatism and Postmodernism
II. Experience
6. Rorty as Elvis: Dewey's Reconstruction of Metaphysics
7. Experience and the Adoration of Matter: Santayana's Unnatural Naturalism
8. Socrates and Radical Empiricism
9. Chronophobia
10. Taking Time Seriously
III. Community
11. Theory, Practice, and Community in Peirce's Normative Science
12. Bodies, Selves, and Individuals: Personalism and Pragmatism
13. Education and the Cultural Frontier: Community, Identity, and Difference
14. Community, Economic Growth, and Family Income: It's the Community, Stupid!
15. Persons, Pluralism, and Death: Toward a Disillusioned Pragmatism
