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3597Pragmatist Epistemologies (edited book)Lexington books. 2011.In a series of ten articles from leading American and European scholars, Pragmatist Epistemologies explores the central themes of epistemology in the pragmatist tradition through a synthesis of new and old pragmatist thought, engaging contemporary issues while exploring from a historical perspective. It opens a new avenue of research in contemporary pragmatism continuous with the main figures of pragmatist tradition and incorporating contemporary trends in philosophy. Students and scholars of Am…Read more
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696Comment on Tapley's "What is Wrong With Being a Pervert?"Southwest Philosophy Review 25 (2): 51-56. 2009.Comment on Robin Tapley's paper on whether or not the sexual aspect of sexual harms adds anything to the harm done. I argue it does not based on the grounds Tapley provides.
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566Pragmatist Aesthetics and the Experience of TechnologyIn 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
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492The 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
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98Putnam, Pragmatism, and DeweyTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 36 (1). 2000.Recent writings by Hilary Putnam indicate the seriousness with which he has moved toward pragmatism. Putnam has not only characterized his own position as similar to pragmatism, he has written a number of essays presenting the views of the classical pragmatists, especially James, Dewey, and Peirce. “Putnam, Pragmatism, and Dewey” examines fundamental problems with Putnam’s recent efforts, especially as they pertain to Dewey’s epistemology.
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86Genuine Doubt and the Community in Peirce’s Theory of InquirySouthwest Philosophy Review 12 (1): 33-43. 1996.For Charles Peirce, the project of inquiry is a social one. Though inquiry, the passage from genuine doubt to settled belief, can be described on the individual level, its significance as a human activity is manifested in collective action. For any individual, Truth transcends experience and inquiry. But it does not transcend experience and inquiry altogether: is a fixed limit, an ideal, towards which a properly functioning community converges. What, in principle, makes the cohesion of such a co…Read more
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80Philosophy’s Relevance and the Pattern of InquiryTeaching 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
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78Pragmatic Objectivity in History, Journalism and PhilosophySouthwest Philosophy Review 27 (1): 1-20. 2011.
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68Art is not Entertainment: John Dewey’s Pragmatist Defense of an Aesthetic DistinctionSouthwest Philosophy Review 31 (1): 225-234. 2015.
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62Kimball on Whitehead and PerceptionProcess 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
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59Does Every Theory Deserve a Hearing? Evolution, Intelligent Design, and the Limits of Democratic InquirySouthern Journal of Philosophy 44 (2): 217-236. 2010.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
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58Subjective, 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
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57Dewey by Steven FesmireTransactions 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
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56Epistemic and Rhetorical Remedies for the Evolution/Intelligent Design PredicamentSouthwest Philosophy Review 24 (1): 43-52. 2008.
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54The Neopragmatist TurnSouthwest 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.
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52The Paramount Importance of Experience and Situations in Dewey's Democracy and EducationEducational Theory 66 (1-2): 73-88. 2016.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
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51Comment on Rosenbaum’s “Justice, The Lorax and the Environment”Southwest Philosophy Review 30 (2): 29-35. 2014.
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47Philosophical Pragmatism and the Challenges of Information TechnologiesThe Pluralist 18 (1): 1-9. 2023.Overview of challenges facing philosophical analyses of experience in the face of life with constant connection, social media, and data mining.
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45Was Kenneth Burke a Pragmatist?Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 31 (3). 1995.Kenneth Burke's recent death has spurred academics in a variety of disciplines to reassess the import of his prolific output. As a specialist in American philosophy, I have begun to make inroads on a question I have heard thus far only in English and Communication departments: Should Kenneth Burke be considered a pragmatist. This paper seeks to persuade specialists in Pragmatism and American Philosophy that Burke's work has enough in common with the epistemological and metaphysical doctrines…Read more
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43Experience is Not The Whole Story: The Integral Role of the Situation in Dewey's Democracy and EducationJournal of Philosophy of Education 52 (2): 287-300. 2018.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
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42Beyond realism and antirealism: John Dewey and the neopragmatistsVanderbilt University Press. 2003.“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.
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41Commentary on “Pragmatism’s Deliberation” by Stuart RosenbaumSouthwest Philosophy Review 20 (2): 199-202. 2004.
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33Pragmatic Democracy: Inquiry, Objectivity, and ExperienceMetaphilosophy 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
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33Review of A Pragmatist Philosophy of Democracy (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 8. 2008.
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32Addressing controversies in science education: a pragmatic approach to evolution educationScience & Education 17 (8-9): 1033-1052. 2008.
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27Thomas M. Alexander The Human Eros: Eco-Ontology and the Aesthetics of Existence New York : Fordham University Press, 2013. xii + 436 pp (review)Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 50 (2): 308-313. 2014.
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26L’esperienza Potrebbe Essere Più Di Un Metodo? Il Punto Di Partenza Pratico Di DeweyDiscipline Filosofiche 19 (2). 2009.
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24Review 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
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22Review of Colin Koopman, Pragmatism as Transition: Historicity and Hope in James, Dewey, and Rorty (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2010 (8). 2010.
Areas of Specialization
John Dewey |
Richard Rorty |
Realism and Anti-Realism |
Metaphilosophy |
20th Century Philosophy, Miscellaneous |