Philosophy Americana: Making Philosophy at Home in American Culture

In this engaging book, Douglas Anderson begins with the assumption that philosophy--the Greek love of wisdom--is alive and well in American culture. At the same time, professional philosophy remains relatively invisible.

Anderson traverses American life to find places in the wider culture where professional philosophy in the distinctively American tradition can strike up a conversation. How might American philosophers talk to us about our religious experience, or political engagement, or literature--or even, popular music?

Anderson's second aim is to find places where philosophy happens in nonprofessional guises--cultural places such as country music, rock'n roll, and Beat literature. He not only enlarges the tradition of American philosophers such as John Dewey and William James by examining lesser-known figures such as Henry Bugbee and Thomas Davidson, but finds the theme and ideas of American philosophy in some unexpected places, such as the music of Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, and Bruce Springsteen, and the writings
of Jack Kerouac.

The idea of "philosophy Americana" trades on the emergent genre of "music Americana," rooted in traditional themes and styles yet engaging our present experiences. The music is "popular" but not thoroughly driven by economic considerations, and Anderson seeks out an analogous role for philosophical practice, where philosophy and popular culture are co-adventurers in the life of ideas. Philosophy Americana takes seriously Emerson's quest for the extraordinary in the ordinary and James's belief that popular philosophy can still be philosophy.

Author: Douglas R. Anderson
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: 05/15/2006
Pages: 308
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.91lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 0.78d
ISBN: 9780823225514

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2006 pg. 5
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2007 pg. 1 - Strongly Recommended

About the Author

DOUGLAS R. ANDERSON is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He is the author of Creativity and the Philosophy of C. S. Peirce, Strands of System, and Philosophy Americana: Making Philosophy at Home in American Culture (Fordham). He is editor of the Transactions of the Charles Peirce Society.