•  1
    Remembering Grayson Douglas Browning (1929–2023)
    with Gregory Pappas and William T. Myers
    The Pluralist 19 (1): 106-107. 2024.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Remembering Grayson Douglas Browning (1929–2023)Gregory Pappas, David Hildebrand, and William T. MyersBrowning, Grayson Douglas was born on March 7, 1929, in Seminole, Oklahoma.He received his PhD from the University Texas, Austin, 1958, where he returned later in 1972 to become its Philosophy Department chairman for four years.He was president of the Southwestern Philosophical Association in 1977, of the Florida Philosophical Associ…Read more
  •  5
    Rorty and Dewey
    In Alan Malachowski (ed.), A Companion to Rorty, Wiley. 2020.
    Definitions of pragmatism increasingly turn on understanding and relating the philosophies of Richard Rorty and John Dewey. Rorty is often the first and most important lens through which many encounter pragmatism or Dewey; thus, it is crucial to know where “Rorty” ends and where “Dewey” begins. To find that line, this chapter answers the question: What did Rorty believe Dewey contributed to pragmatism, to philosophy, and to humanity? After reviewing how Rorty's personal and academic beginnings i…Read more
  •  31
    Overview of challenges facing philosophical analyses of experience in the face of life with constant connection, social media, and data mining.
  •  11
    SAAP 2020 Conference Proceedings
    The Pluralist 16 (1): 149-149. 2021.
    This issue of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy's 2020 Proceedings includes papers given at the annual meeting in 2020 at the Hacienda Santa Clara in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. This was the first time that SAAP had ever held its annual meeting in Mexico, and it represents an important milestone for the Society. As immediate past president Gregory Pappas explains in his Address, "thanks to the efforts of many scholars and presidents, SAAP has come to recognize…Read more
  •  1
    Introduction
    European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 6 (2). 2014.
    More than thirty years ago, Richard Rorty published Consequences of Pragmatism. There, and in other writings, Rorty challenged the centrality and even the necessity of “experience”, a notion that had played such an important role in the work of pragmatists such as Charles S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. Rorty denigrated “experience” as both unnecessary and retrograde, and criticized Dewey and James for either lapsing into bad faith (offering experience as a substitute for “substance...
  •  547
    Pragmatist Aesthetics and the Experience of Technology
    In Anders Buch & Theodore R. Schatzki (eds.), Questions of Practice in Philosophy and Social Theory, Routledge. pp. 114-135. 2018.
    Abstract: For most people, mobile phones and various forms of personal information technology (PIT) have become standard equipment for everyday life. Recent theorists such as Sherry Turkle raise psychological and philosophical questions about the impact of such technologies and practices, but deeper further philosophical work is needed. This paper takes a pragmatic approach to examining the effects of PIT practices upon experience. After reviewing several main issues with technology raised by Co…Read more
  •  27
    The central objective of Dewey’s Democracy and Education is to explain ‘what is needed to live a meaningful life and how can education contribute?’ While most acquainted with Dewey’s educational philosophy know that ‘experience’ plays a central role, the role of ‘situations’ may be less familiar or understood. This essay explains why ‘situation’ is inseparable from ‘experience’ and deeply important to Democracy and Education’s educational methods and rationales. First, a prefatory section explor…Read more
  •  54
    Ongoing hostilities between evolution and intelligent design adherents reveal deeper epistemological and ethical crises in American life. First, when adjudicating sociopolitical differences among people, how much epistemological “diversity” can be embraced before the very canons of judgment become suspect? Pragmatist notions of inquiry, warranted assertability, and pluralism can help strike a better balance. Second, the related crisis of factionalized “communities” might be addressed, along Dewe…Read more
  • Undercutting the Realism-Antirealism Debate: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists
    Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin. 1997.
    In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in pragmatism, especially that of John Dewey. Pragmatism has been embraced as a distinctively American via media, capable of bridging the contemporary divide between philosophy-as-cultural-criticism and philosophy-as-fundamental science. Indeed, the avowal by certain prominent philosophers of pragmatic commitments has been so widespread as to earn them the title of "neopragmatists." On one central issue, however, the interpretations by thes…Read more
  •  21
    Review of Robert B. Talisse, A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy (review)
    Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2008 (8). 2008.
    Each year, solutions to the problem "How can we all get along?" prove more vexing and remote. Are we stymied by cultural or economic differences? Is deliberation impoverished by the double-whammy of consumerism and its conduit, a 24/7, entertainment-oriented media system? In A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy (PPD) Robert B. Talisse rules out none of these factors while pushing a boldly original democratic theory appealing not only to pragmatists but to anyone who cares more about solving real…Read more
  •  10
    Dewey: A Beginner's Guide
    Oneworld. 2008.
    An icon of philosophy and psychology during the first half of the 20th century, Dewey is known as the father of Functional Psychology and a pivotal figure of the Pragmatist movement as well as the progressive movement in education. This concise and critical look at Dewey’s work examines his discourse of "right" and "wrong," as well as political notions such as freedom, rights, liberty, equality, and naturalism. The author of several essays about thought and logic, Dewey’s legacy remains not only…Read more
  •  53
    The Neopragmatist Turn
    Southwest Philosophy Review 19 (1): 79-88. 2003.
    Description of how Rorty created neopragmatism using a "linguistification" turn. Criticisms of shortcomings of the move in comparison with resources available in classical pragmatism, such as that of Dewey.
  •  63
    Philosophy’s Relevance and the Pattern of Inquiry
    Teaching Philosophy 22 (4): 377-389. 1999.
    The undergraduate philosophy major is often seen as an irrelevant degree. While this may be attributed to a number of causes, it is also occasion for academic philosophers to reevaluate pedagogical methods at the undergraduate level. The author evaluates typical pedagogical methods and argues that overemphasizing epistemological goals of philosophical investigation (e.g. truth and justification) instrumentalizes the process of inquiry and stifles students’ philosophical imagination, resulting in…Read more
  •  1
    A critical introduction to the major areas of John Dewey's philosophical thought: psychology, epistemology, ethics, politics, education, aesthetics, and philosophy of religion. Publisher: A ground-breaking introduction to one of America's most prominent philosophers An icon of philosophy and psychology during the first half of the 20th century, Dewey is known as the father of Functional Psychology and a pivotal figure of the Pragmatist movement as well as the progressive movement in education. T…Read more
  •  40
    Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 57 (2): 395-398. 2003.
    In Vermeer’s painting The Lacemaker an artisan works with loving intensity, employing a sensibility at once intimate and strategically detached. Davidson’s careful prose embodies both the logic and beauty of lace as it simply and plainly leads one into the intricate connections among thought, language, and sociality. While the subject matters are analytic and serious, Davidson imbues them with a dry sense of humor and sparkles of warmth. Of course Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective is an imp…Read more
  •  28
    Pragmatic Democracy: Inquiry, Objectivity, and Experience
    Metaphilosophy 42 (5): 589-604. 2011.
    This essay argues that to understand Dewey's vision of democracy as “epistemic” requires consideration of how experiential and communal aspects of inquiry together produce what is named here “pragmatic objectivity.” Such pragmatic objectivity provides an alternative to absolutism and self-interested relativism by appealing to certain norms of empirical experimentation. Pragmatic objectivity, it is then argued, can be justified by appeal to Dewey's conception of primary experience. This justifica…Read more
  •  42
    Dewey by Steven Fesmire
    Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 51 (4): 543-549. 2015.
    In recent years, a genre of introduction to philosophical figures and movements for non-specialists has gained in popularity; these introductions aim to be neither too cursory nor too laden with academic detail. Oxford’s “Very Short Introductions” and the “Wadsworth Notes” series are examples of the cursory type, while academic monographs are examples of the detailed type. Steven Fesmire’s Dewey is a welcome and unique contribution to the new introductory genre, joining similar efforts such as R…Read more
  •  41
    In this essay, David Hildebrand connects Democracy and Education to Dewey's wider corpus. Hildebrand argues that Democracy and Education's central objective is to offer a practical and philosophical answer to the question, What is needed to live a meaningful life, and how can education contribute? He argues, further, that this work is still plausible as “summing up” Dewey's overall philosophy due to its focus upon “experience” and “situation,” crucial concepts connecting Dewey's philosophical id…Read more
  •  24
    Review of A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy (review)
    Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 8. 2008.
  •  41
    Kimball on Whitehead and Perception
    Process Studies 22 (1): 13-20. 1993.
    In "The Incoherence of Whitehead’s Theory of Perception" (PS 9:94-104), Robert H. Kimball tries to show how Alfred North Whitehead’s account of perception is a failed attempt to reconcile two traditional theories of perception: phenomenological (or sense-data) theory and causal (or physiological) theory. Whitehead fails, Kimball argues, in two main ways. First because his notion of symbolic reference requires the simultaneous enjoyment of perceptions in the mode of presentational immediacy and c…Read more
  •  38
    What is Wrong with Being a Pervert
    Southwest Philosophy Review 25 (1): 173-179. 2009.
  •  485
    The Human Eros: Eco-Ontology and the Aesthetics of Existence by Thomas M. Alexander (review)
    Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 50 (2): 308-313. 2014.
    The Human Eros is an outstanding accomplishment, a work of genuine wisdom. It combines meticulous scholarship with an enviable mastery of cultural and philosophical history to address pressing concerns of human beings, nature, and philosophy itself. While comprised of essays spanning over two decades, the book presents a powerfully coherent philosophical vision which Alexander names, alternately, “eco-ontology,” “humanistic naturalism,” and “ecological humanism.” Whatever the name, the approach …Read more
  •  70
    Pragmatic Objectivity in History, Journalism and Philosophy
    Southwest Philosophy Review 27 (1): 1-20. 2011.
  •  39
    “Hildebrand has constructed a well-paced and historically informative evaluation of neopragmatism. . . . This book makes an excellent companion for courses in both contemporary epistemology and American philosophy.” –Choice How faithful are the Neopragmatists' reformulations of Classical Pragmatism? Can their Neopragmatisms work? In examining the difficulties in Neopragmatism, David L. Hildebrand is able to propose some distinct directions for Pragmatism.