Pragmatist Neurophilosophy:American Philosophy and the Brain explains why the broad tradition of pragmatism is needed now more than ever. Bringing pragmatist philosophers together with cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists, this volume explores topics of urgent interest across neuroscience and philosophy from the perspective of pragmatism.
Discussing how Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and George Mead benefited from their laboratory-knowledge, contributors treat America's first-generation pragmatists as America's first cognitive scientists. They explain why scientists today should participate in pragmatic judgments, just as the classical pragmatists did, and how current scientists can benefit from their earlier philosophical explorations across the same territory. Looking at recent neuroscientific discoveries in relation to classical pragmatists, they explore emerging pragmatic views supported directly from the behavioral and brain sciences and describe how "neuropragmatism" engages larger cultural questions by adequately dealing with meaningful values and ethical ideals.
Pragmatist Neurophilosophy is an important contribution to scholars of both pragmatism and neuroscience and a timely reminder that America's first generation of pragmatists did not stumble onto its principles, but designed them in light of biology's new discoveries.
John R. Shook, Ph.D., is Vice President for Education and Research and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York. He also is Research Associate in Philosophy at the University at Buffalo.
Tibor Solymosi has taught at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, USA. He also runs the website www.neuropragmatism.com.
Introduction – John Shook (Research Associate in Philosophy, University at Buffalo, USA) and Tibor Solymosi (Philosophy, Allegheny College, USA) \ SECTION ONE: Historical Considerations \
Peirce on Neuronal Synchronicity and Spontaneous Order – John Kaag (Assistant Professor, Philosophy, University of Massachusetts, USA) \ The Legacy of William James: Lessons for Today’s Neuroscience – Maxine Sheets-Johnstone (Professor of Philosophy, University of Durham, UK) Dewey, Neuroaesthetics and Evolutionary Accounts of the Arts – Russ Pryba (Visiting Assistant Professor, Niagara University, USA \ SECTION TWO: Reconstructing Neuroscience and Philosophy \
Descendants of Pragmatism: Reconciliation and Reconstruction in Neopragmatism, Neurophilosophy, and Neuropragmatism – Tibor Solymosi (Philosophy, Allegheny College, USA) \ Neuropragmatic Reconstruction: A Case from Neuroeconomics – Mark Tschaepe (Assistant Professor, Philosophy, Prairie View A&M University, USA) \ The Most Important Thing Neuropragmatism Can Do: Providing an Alternative to ‘Cognitive’ Neuroscience – Eric P. Charles, Andrew D. Wilson, and Sabrina Golonka (Lecturer, Cognitive Psychology, University of Leeds, UK) \ SECTION THREE: Cognition, Inquiry, and Belief in the Brain and Beyond \ How Inquiry and Method Shape Brain Science: Pragmatism, Embodiment, and Cognitive Neuroscience – Tim Rohrer \ Extended Mind and Representation – Tom Burke (Professor of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, USA) \ Pragmatically Defined Worlds of Organisms and Selves – David L. Thompson (Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, University of Newfoundland, USA) \ Is Experience Naturally Objective or Subjective, or Both? – John Shook (Research Associate in Philosophy, University at Buffalo, USA)
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