Pragmatism as Post-Postmodernism: Lessons from John Dewey

Larry A. Hickman

Open Access Published by Fordham University Press 2019

Pragmatism as Post-Postmodernism

Lessons from John Dewey

Larry A. Hickman

In the series American Philosophy

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823285167

Overview
Contents

About this book

Larry A. Hickman presents John Dewey as very much at home in the busy mix of contemporary philosophy—as a thinker whose work now, more than fifty years after his death, still furnishes fresh insights into cutting-edge philosophical debates. Hickman argues that it is precisely the rich, pluralistic mix of contemporary philosophical discourse, with its competing research programs in French-inspired postmodernism, phenomenology, Critical Theory, Heidegger studies, analytic philosophy, and neopragmatism—all busily engaging, challenging, and informing one another—that invites renewed examination of Dewey’s central ideas.

Hickman offers a Dewey who both anticipated some of the central insights of French-inspired postmodernism and, if he were alive today, would certainly be one of its most committed critics, a Dewey who foresaw some of the most trenchant problems associated with fostering global citizenship, and a Dewey whose core ideas are often at odds with those of some of his most ardent neopragmatist interpreters.

In the trio of essays that launch this book, Dewey is an observer and critic of some of the central features of French-inspired postmodernism and its American cousin, neopragmatism. In the next four, Dewey enters into dialogue with contemporary critics of technology, including Jürgen Habermas, Andrew Feenberg, and Albert Borgmann. The next two essays establish Dewey as an environmental philosopher of the first rank—a worthy conversation partner for Holmes Ralston, III, Baird Callicott, Bryan G. Norton, and Aldo Leopold. The concluding essays provide novel interpretations of Dewey’s views of religious belief, the psychology of habit, philosophical anthropology, and what he termed “the epistemology industry.”

Author / Editor information

Hickman Larry A. :

Larry A. Hickman is director of the Center for Dewey Studies and Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Larry A. Hickman is director of the Center for Dewey Studies and Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Reviews

—Richard J. Bernstein:

Larry A. Hickman is one of the best interpreters of the American
pragmatic tradition, especially the thought of John Dewey. In this
collection of essays, he presents a vigorous, lively, and lucid defense
of the relevance and importance of pragmatism for dealing with some of
the most pressing and complex issues of our time—including technology,
the environment, and globalization. He persuasively argues that
classical pragmatism is “waiting at the end of the road” traveled by
modernist and postmodernist thinkers.

. . . A critical discussion about the complex relation between philosophical postmodernism and classical pragmatism.

—Don Ihde:
Larry Hickman has here reinvented John Dewey and pragmatism, this time in the postmodern context. No one does better than Hickman in translating the implications of pragmatism into its contemporary relevance. And here the romps through technology and the Critical Theorists, issues of the environment and the chapters on Dewey himself are lively and revealing.

—Michael Eldridge:
A much needed contribution to the philosophical literature on pragmatism.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Preface and Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
Part 1. Postmodernism
1 Classical Pragmatism Waiting at the End of the Road Open Access Download PDF	13
2 Pragmatism, Postmodernism, and Global Citizenship Open Access Download PDF	30
3 Classical Pragmatism, Postmodernism, and Neopragmatism Open Access Download PDF	48
Part 2. Technology
4 Classical Pragmatism and Communicative Action Jürgen Habermas Open Access Download PDF	65
5 From Critical Theory to Pragmatism Andrew Feenberg Open Access Download PDF	79
6 A Neo-Heideggerian Critique of Technology Albert Borgmann Open Access Download PDF	92
7 Doing and Making in a Democracy John Dewey Open Access Download PDF	112
Part 3. The Environment
8 Nature as Culture: John Dewey and Aldo Leopold Open Access Download PDF	131
9 Green Pragmatism Reals without Realism, Ideals without Idealism Open Access Download PDF	153
Part 4. Classical Pragmatism
10 What Was Dewey’s Magic Number? Open Access Download PDF	181
11 Cultivating a Common Faith Dewey’s Religion Open Access Download PDF	191
12 Beyond the Epistemology Industry Dewey’s Theory of Inquiry Open Access Download PDF	206
13 The Homo Faber Debate in Dewey and Max Scheler Open Access Download PDF	231
14 Productive Pragmatism: Habits as Artifacts in Peirce and Dewey Open Access Download PDF	241
Notes Open Access Download PDF	255
Index Open Access Download PDF	277

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Pages
- Main content: 296
Keywords: Philosophy & Theory; American Studies

eBook

Published: January 29, 2019
ISBN: 9780823285167