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117Expectancy Effects in Reconstructive Memory: When the Past is Just What We ExpectedIn Steven Jay Lynn & Kevin M. McConkey (eds.), Truth in Memory, Guilford Press. pp. 62-89. 1998.Topics include sources of schematic effects on memory; the M. Ross and M. Conway model; E. R. Hirt's model of reconstructive memory; and moderators of the relative weighting of expectancy vs memory trace.
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17Cornelis de Waal, On Pragmatism (review)Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 41 (2): 435-439. 2005.
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11Pragmatism and Values (review)Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy 32 (99): 48-50. 2004.
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32Experience and Philosophy (review)Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy 35 (106): 58-60. 2007.
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14Toward a Deontological Environmental EthicsEnvironmental Ethics 23 (4): 411-430. 2001.In this paper, I outline both a nonanthropocentric and non-subjective theory of intrinsic value which incorporates pragmatism in environmental ethics in a novel way. The theory, which I call creative actualization, is a non-hierarchical, nonsubjective theory of value which includes the value of nonhuman species and the biosphere. I argue that there are conditions to such values. These limitations include evaluations of actual improvement and reciprocity as conditions. These conditions are necess…Read more
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1F.C.S. Schiller on Pragmatism and Humanism: Selected Writings, 1891-1939 (edited book)Humanity Books. 2007.The renaissance of pragmatism in recent decades has stimulated renewed study of the classical pragmatists. Until this volume, F. C. S. Schiller was the only major pragmatist from the classical era whose significant writings remained uncollected for renewed scholarly study. The forty-two pieces in this collection represent Schiller's finest writings. They range across a broad spectrum of specific topics: logic and scientific method, meaning and truth, pluralism and monism, personalism and idealis…Read more
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9Political Philosophy and Ideology: A Critique of Political EssentialismDevelopment. 1997.This book is conceived as part of a systematic philosophy of values. Neither philosophies of value nor systematic philosophies are in fashion. It is hoped that this work will make a contribution toward their reappraisal. Classically, political philosophy was considered a part of philosophic systems, as the basic ideas of the philosophy applied to politics. Its relative neglect by the predominant school of philosophy in America and Britain has meant that certain ideas and issues in philosophy are…Read more
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Pragmatism and the Problem of the Intrinsic Value of the EnvironmentDissertation, New School for Social Research. 2000.The recent literature of Environmental Ethics has frequently centered on the issue of whether nonhuman life or the environment as a whole has intrinsic value in some sense. In chapter one, I review the debate over the intrinsic value of the non-human and also the environmental critics of pragmatism. Pragmatism has been criticized as unsuitable for an Environmental Ethics on the grounds that it undermines intrinsic value, subjectivizes value, and thus cannot provide a sufficient basis for the pro…Read more
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30Can Environmental Ethics Become a First Philosophy?Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 4 75-83. 2008.I briefly discuss first philosophy (metaphysics), including different “paradigms’ of first philosophy in the history of Western philosophy. I then discuss the rise of environmental ethics as a new field of philosophy and the debate over anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric values. I suggest that ecocentric value theories could constitute a new first philosophy using the “paradigm” of value in first philosophy and why they should constitute a first philosophy.
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31Pragmatism and Values (review)Newsletter of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy 32 (99): 48-50. 2004.
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4Environmental Philosophy: A Revaluation of Cosmopolitan Ethics From an Ecocentric Standpoint (edited book)Editions Rodopi. 2014.Environmental Philosophy: A Revaluation of Cosmopolitan Ethics from an Ecocentric Standpoint calls for a new approach to ethics. Starting from the necessity for all life of air, water, and food, the book revalues the relation of ethics and environmentalism. Using insights of the environmental ethicists, environmental ethics becomes the model for ethics as a whole. Humans are part of a larger environment. Cosmopolitanism should be revised in accord with environmental ethics. The book applies a ne…Read more
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306Does Nature Exist? Towards a Critique of Nature and NaturalismProceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 44 63-72. 2008.To bring our topic within manageable limits, the attempt will be made to approach the philosophy of nature in a systematic manner. Borrowing the quantitative categories of one, some and all, nature will be treated as first as singular, then a whole or totality and finally discussed in terms of various distinctions which set nature apart as a part. Past philosophic treatments will be discussed when germane to this treatment, as an example of a particular view of nature. I will argue that nature i…Read more
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50Toward a deontological environmental ethicsEnvironmental Ethics 23 (4): 411-430. 2001.In this paper, I outline both a nonanthropocentric and non-subjective theory of intrinsic value which incorporates pragmatism in environmental ethics in a novel way. The theory, which I call creative actualization, is a non-hierarchical, nonsubjective theory of value which includes the value of nonhuman species and the biosphere. I argue that there are conditions to such values. These limitations include evaluations of actual improvement (meliorism) and reciprocity as conditions. These condition…Read more
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8John Dewey and Environmental Philosophy: The Problem of Socrates in Modernity (edited book)State University of New York Press. 2003.A comprehensive look at how John Dewey's ethics can inform environmental issues
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64Dewey’s NaturalismEnvironmental Ethics 24 (2): 189-208. 2002.In the recent literature of environmental ethics, certain criticisms of pragmatism in general and Dewey in particular have been made, specifically, that certain features of pragmatism make it unsuitable as an environmental ethic. Eric Katz asserts that pragmatism is an inherently anthropocentric and subjective philosophy. Bob Pepperman Taylor argues that Dewey’s naturalism in particular is anthropocentric in that it concentrates on human nature. I challenge both of these views in the context of …Read more
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62Principles: The Principles of PrinciplesThe Pluralist 4 (3): 98-126. 2009.In this essay, I will argue for the actuality of principles. Principles are normative in that they regulate the relation of actuality and potentiality as well as operate across time, from the past and present to the future. They may also apply across space, that is, that the same principle operates in different places in the same way, for example the laws of motion. Principles mean that change follows certain regularities. I will examine the modality of principles, the relation to pluralism. I w…Read more
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16Dewey’s NaturalismEnvironmental Ethics 24 (2): 189-208. 2002.In the recent literature of environmental ethics, certain criticisms of pragmatism in general and Dewey in particular have been made, specifically, that certain features of pragmatism make it unsuitable as an environmental ethic. Eric Katz asserts that pragmatism is an inherently anthropocentric and subjective philosophy. Bob Pepperman Taylor argues that Dewey’s naturalism in particular is anthropocentric in that it concentrates on human nature. I challenge both of these views in the context of …Read more
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47Radical Axiology: A First Philosophy of Values (edited book)BRILL. 2004.This book treats values as the basis for all of philosophy, an approach distinct from critiquing theories of value and far rarer. “First Philosophy,” the effort to justify the foundations for a system of philosophy, is one of the main issues that divide philosophers today. McDonald’s philosophy of values is a comprehensive attempt to replace philosophies of “existence,” “being,” “experience,” the “subject,” or “language,” with a philosophy that locates value as most basic. This transformation is…Read more
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82First Philosophy in the Pragmatic Humanism of F.C.S. SchillerInternational Philosophical Quarterly 43 (4): 503-525. 2003.During his lifetime, F.C.S. Schiller was viewed as a major figure in the pragmatist movement, but his reputation has faded. This article will challenge the view that he was an unoriginal or less important figure. In particular, I will attempt a reconstruction of Schiller’s position on first philosophy, which will examine the differences between Schiller and the other major figures in the pragmatist movement. By using texts from Schiller’s writings, I attempt to create an undistorted reconstructi…Read more
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21Creative actualization: a meliorist theory of values (edited book)Rodopi. 2011.Introduction -- Creative actualization -- Modes of value -- Moral justification -- Creative actualization and the world -- Critical evaluation of metaphysical value theories -- Critical evaluation of subjective value theories -- Critical evaluation of relational value theories -- Conclusion : value hierarchies and value autonomy.
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30"The Problem with" Brain"Contemporary Pragmatism 2 (2): 93-126. 2005.Mind cannot be reduced to "brain states" since "brain" is a reconstruction from experience. I begin with the "identity" view and then consider less reductive physicalist views. I criticize the dualistic view, and argue for unique features of mind that separate it from anything physical, particularly perspective. I then argue for Mead's view of the formation and development of mind in a social context. The plasticity of minds, along with privacy of experience argue against identification with any…Read more
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6Pragmatism and EnvironmentalismRodopi. 2012.The growing literature on Environmental Ethics has ballooned into a separate sub-field within philosophy, involving ethical studies concerning the value of other species, of ecosystems, and of the environment of all living things as a whole. Some consider Environmental Ethics to be a revolution in ethics which will completely change the human-centered orientation of morals and reorient it to include all species, ecosystems or the larger biosphere. This volume explores pragmatist approaches to et…Read more
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7Speculative Evaluations: Essays on a Pluralistic Universe (edited book)Editions Rodopi. 2012.This book evaluates competing theories on speculative topics, such as nature, technology, space, time, and the relation of mind and matter. The general thesis is the actuality of principles in the form of laws, norms and other general principles in a plastic world, tying together the actualization of “oughts” and other principles. The result is a pluralistic universe, endorsing the pragmatic view of the world. The book examines nature, being, reality and other traditional issues in this light, c…Read more
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31IntroductionContemporary Pragmatism 9 (1): 1-3. 2012.This issue of Contemporary Pragmatism is devoted to pragmatism and environmental ethics. My introduction surveys the current situation at the intersection of these two fields, and the contributions of this issue's eleven articles.
Areas of Specialization
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Metaphilosophy |
Philosophy of Mind |
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of the Americas |
Areas of Interest
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
European Philosophy |