Dewey scholar Michael Eldridge provides a thorough and well-researched interpretation of Dewey's philosophy that focuses on the role of intelligence in human ...

Adjectival and Generic Pragmatism: Problems and Possibilities While honoring the suggestion that one should always use an adjective with "pragmatism," I explore the possibility of a generic use of the term, contending that an orientation to habit or revisable practice is a useful indicator.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Santayana: American Naturalism's Early Role Model Some Episodes in the History of the New Naturalism Naturalism in the Last Half of the Twentieth Century.

I make the case for thinking of Obama as a pragmatist, talk about the influence of his community organizing experience, and then reflect on some difficulties of implementing those "pragmatic democratic" values as president. I call attention to some arguably pragmatic but undemocratic features of his presidency, notably, a tendency to technocratic and top-down management. In response to complaints about Obama from a politically liberal orientation, I will defend his actions as pragmatic.

One must not read Rogers' title as claiming that no one anywhere knows the Dewey presented in this fine, informative, illuminating, and engaged book. Certainly many readers of this journal will recognize the Dewey he has uncovered. Rogers' perspective, however, is a novel one. Think of an artist or photographer whose portrait of a familiar figure enables the viewer to appreciate the subject in a way that s/he has not quite realized before. The subject is a familiar one but the (...) new take is one that while not startling is nevertheless fresh and worth of study.Although Rogers credits many present and past members of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy—Thomas Alexander, Raymond Boisvert, Vincent .. (shrink)

: I provide an overview of A Thoughtful Profession (Open Court, 2006), Jim Campbell's splendid account of the first twenty-five years or so of the American Philosophical Association (APA), in which he shows in considerable detail how thoughtfully our association came into being and how we still live with the solutions of those early years. Three separate associations were formed during this period in response "to the impact of contemporary science and technology on American thinking, . . . the increasing (...) democratizing of American higher education," and "the impact of the German system of higher education. As a result of these three factors, higher education in America was fundamentally changed; and the practice of academic philosophy was changed with it" (Campbell, p. 18). I recount how this book tells the story of that change and the eventual formation of the APA in the 1920s from these three associations. We still live with the effects of this professionalization of academic philosophy and of the decision to form a division-dominated national association. (shrink)