Papers by Randy L . Friedman
UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations & Theses. The world's most comprehensive collectio... more UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations & Theses. The world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. Learn more... ProQuest, The reconstruction of religion in classical American philosophy (Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, John Dewey). ...
Pluralist, Apr 1, 2012
The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we... more The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we were her people. She was ours In Massachusetts, in Virginia, But we were England’s, still colonials, Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, Possessed by what we now no more possessed. Something we were withholding made us weak Until we found out that it was ourselves We were withholding from our land of living, and forthwith found salvation in surrender. Such as we were we gave ourselves outright (The deed of gift was many deeds of war) To the land vaguely realizing westward, But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced, Such as she was, such as she would become.
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy, 2009
deserves humble respect. This is not dualism, and there’s nothing transcendent here, they point o... more deserves humble respect. This is not dualism, and there’s nothing transcendent here, they point out—no grasping the incomprehensible, but rather like greeting the incomparable. Or, so they say. Hickman’s Deweyan contextualism generously takes them at their word, and would hardly refuse such innocently pleasant greetings. Dewey’s sprawling holistic community can prepare plenty of zoned ground to park these amusements, should they ever be needed for conversion in more serious industry. For Hickman, no experience by itself could ever warrant an apprehension that we should simply halt and take our tools somewhere else. In Hickman’s artful hands, Dewey’s post-Kantianism, still a technological epistemology awed by the problem-solving force of human intelligence, has trouble conversing with wisdom traditions more sensitive to the mysterious, the sacred, the tragic. These traditions nurture another kind of transactional (not necessarily transcendent!) learning, permitting them to ask, Must we try to cultivate every territory we stumble upon? We need to know how Dewey, so capable of dealing with dualisms, can be adapted further for this next urgent conversation. Hickman lays out the modern Western choice between prostrate mysticism, rationalistic idealism, and technological pragmatism. However, other possible options surely exist beyond this trichotomy, dimly visible on the horizon after we recover from Hickman’s frightful spectre of dualism. A post-postKantian humanism might help here, capable of seeing how an encounter with the beyond can rightfully put us in our place. This new humanism could re-draw the geography of plotting how our species’ whole being can accommodate itself to living within wild and uncaring nature without demonizing, deifying, or humanizing it. Dewey will be a valued participant in this conversation, I expect; there are more spiritual things in Dewey than are imagined in a technological philosophy. John R. Shook Center for Inquiry and University at Buffalo jshook@pragmatism.org
Choice Reviews Online, Jul 1, 2008
deserves humble respect. This is not dualism, and there’s nothing transcendent here, they point o... more deserves humble respect. This is not dualism, and there’s nothing transcendent here, they point out—no grasping the incomprehensible, but rather like greeting the incomparable. Or, so they say. Hickman’s Deweyan contextualism generously takes them at their word, and would hardly refuse such innocently pleasant greetings. Dewey’s sprawling holistic community can prepare plenty of zoned ground to park these amusements, should they ever be needed for conversion in more serious industry. For Hickman, no experience by itself could ever warrant an apprehension that we should simply halt and take our tools somewhere else. In Hickman’s artful hands, Dewey’s post-Kantianism, still a technological epistemology awed by the problem-solving force of human intelligence, has trouble conversing with wisdom traditions more sensitive to the mysterious, the sacred, the tragic. These traditions nurture another kind of transactional (not necessarily transcendent!) learning, permitting them to ask, Must we try to cultivate every territory we stumble upon? We need to know how Dewey, so capable of dealing with dualisms, can be adapted further for this next urgent conversation. Hickman lays out the modern Western choice between prostrate mysticism, rationalistic idealism, and technological pragmatism. However, other possible options surely exist beyond this trichotomy, dimly visible on the horizon after we recover from Hickman’s frightful spectre of dualism. A post-postKantian humanism might help here, capable of seeing how an encounter with the beyond can rightfully put us in our place. This new humanism could re-draw the geography of plotting how our species’ whole being can accommodate itself to living within wild and uncaring nature without demonizing, deifying, or humanizing it. Dewey will be a valued participant in this conversation, I expect; there are more spiritual things in Dewey than are imagined in a technological philosophy. John R. Shook Center for Inquiry and University at Buffalo jshook@pragmatism.org
Beginning with Emerson's turn from his pulpit, many argue that American philosophy has rigoro... more Beginning with Emerson's turn from his pulpit, many argue that American philosophy has rigorously held forth against supernaturalism and metaphysics. While most read self-reliance as a call for individualism, I argue that self-reliance is the application of the moral sentiment to the source of existence Emerson calls the Over-soul. Figures like George Kateb, Stanley Cavell, and Jeffrey Stout have presented
The Pluralist, 2012
The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we... more The land was ours before we were the land’s. She was our land more than a hundred years Before we were her people. She was ours In Massachusetts, in Virginia, But we were England’s, still colonials, Possessing what we still were unpossessed by, Possessed by what we now no more possessed. Something we were withholding made us weak Until we found out that it was ourselves We were withholding from our land of living, and forthwith found salvation in surrender. Such as we were we gave ourselves outright (The deed of gift was many deeds of war) To the land vaguely realizing westward, But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced, Such as she was, such as she would become.
Education and Culture, 2011
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 2009
Theoria, Jan 1, 2006
This paper examines the arguments of a group of reservists in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) wh... more This paper examines the arguments of a group of reservists in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who refused to serve in the Occupied Territories, claiming a right to selective conscientious objection (SCO). SCO is not recognized by the IDF, and an appeal to international conventions, the laws of the State, and freedom of conscience failed to persuade the Israeli High Court of Justice to overturn the IDF’s punishment of the reservists. The State’s refusal to recognize SCO will continue to be challenged, and a better justification may be needed to support this decision.
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A …, Jan 1, 2007
Beginning with Emerson’s turn from his pulpit, many argue that American philosophy has rigorously... more Beginning with Emerson’s turn from his pulpit, many argue that American philosophy has rigorously held forth against supernaturalism and metaphysics. While most read self-reliance as a call for individualism, I argue that self-reliance is the application of the moral sentiment to the source of existence Emerson calls the Over-soul. Figures like George Kateb, Stanley Cavell, and Jeffrey Stout have presented a very different picture of American pragmatism. Stout, in particular, is responsible for building up what I call “the myth of the Emersonian democrat.” We find that a few philosophical positions generally constitute this myth. The Emersonian democrat is secular, sceptical, relativist, anti-realist, and anti-metaphysical. In
fact, on my reading of the strand of pragmatism running from Emerson through James to Dewey, the
pluralism of the Emersonian democrat depends on certain metaphysical commitments. The traditional
reading of Emerson as anti-religion, and by extension, anti-religious, impedes a better understanding of self-reliance and obfuscates some of the Emersonian inheritances in James and Dewey.
Dewey’s philosophy of religion, which admittedly does not occupy a great deal of his writing, rep... more Dewey’s philosophy of religion, which admittedly does not occupy a great deal of his writing, represents a decisive move on his part beyond James. Many have pointed out that it was James who turned Dewey from Hegelianism to what becomes his instrumentalist rendition of Jamesian pragmatism. In this article, I will concentrate on what Dewey borrows (and changes) from James: a notion of experience meant to bridge the gap between traditional philosophical rationalism and empiricism (and meant to take the place of both), and an emphasis on meliorism. I agree with those who argue that Dewey “naturalizes” James. James’s moral multiverse and his relatively uncritical approach to religious experience are replaced by a rather transparent religion of pluralism (or democracy) and a notion of moral faith which points from individual experience toward the pluralistic, democratic community. It would be more accurate to say that religion itself, any religious tradition, and religious experience, are replaced by the religious function in experience, through which the beliefs of the many and their aspirations form the working hypotheses of a progressive community.
Self-reliance is too often read as a celebration by Emerson of the secular, self-reliant individu... more Self-reliance is too often read as a celebration by Emerson of the secular, self-reliant individual. My reading has Emerson discovering a religiosity which does not depend on an adherence to a particular religious tradition or supernatural revelation. I call this religious self-reliance. Emerson, influenced by James Marsh and William Ellery Channing, rejects the theology which in part follows Locke’s empiricism and leaves the individual in need of spiritual guidance through traditional forms of divine Revelation. Instead, Emerson turns to Reason, identified as the moral or religious sentiment. The Over-soul which the moral sentiment uncovers represents the ultimate grounding of the self, and its revelation serves as the basis for religious self-reliance.
Critics of Dewey’s metaphysics point to his dismissal of any philosophy which locates ideals in a... more Critics of Dewey’s metaphysics point to his dismissal of any philosophy which locates ideals in a realm beyond experience. However, Dewey’s sustained critique of
dualistic philosophies is but a fi rst step in his reconstruction and recovery of the function of the metaphysical. Detaching the discussion of values from inquiry,whether scientifi c, philosophical, or educational, produces the same end as relegating values to a transcendent realm that is beyond ordinary human discourse. Dewey’s naturalistic metaphysics supports his progressive educational philosophy.The duty of education is grounded in its service to democracy; it must help studentsdevelop the ability to express, discuss, and develop their moral reasoning through experiential and experimental learning.
Book Reviews by Randy L . Friedman
Teaching Documents by Randy L . Friedman
Uploads
Papers by Randy L . Friedman
fact, on my reading of the strand of pragmatism running from Emerson through James to Dewey, the
pluralism of the Emersonian democrat depends on certain metaphysical commitments. The traditional
reading of Emerson as anti-religion, and by extension, anti-religious, impedes a better understanding of self-reliance and obfuscates some of the Emersonian inheritances in James and Dewey.
dualistic philosophies is but a fi rst step in his reconstruction and recovery of the function of the metaphysical. Detaching the discussion of values from inquiry,whether scientifi c, philosophical, or educational, produces the same end as relegating values to a transcendent realm that is beyond ordinary human discourse. Dewey’s naturalistic metaphysics supports his progressive educational philosophy.The duty of education is grounded in its service to democracy; it must help studentsdevelop the ability to express, discuss, and develop their moral reasoning through experiential and experimental learning.
Book Reviews by Randy L . Friedman
Teaching Documents by Randy L . Friedman
fact, on my reading of the strand of pragmatism running from Emerson through James to Dewey, the
pluralism of the Emersonian democrat depends on certain metaphysical commitments. The traditional
reading of Emerson as anti-religion, and by extension, anti-religious, impedes a better understanding of self-reliance and obfuscates some of the Emersonian inheritances in James and Dewey.
dualistic philosophies is but a fi rst step in his reconstruction and recovery of the function of the metaphysical. Detaching the discussion of values from inquiry,whether scientifi c, philosophical, or educational, produces the same end as relegating values to a transcendent realm that is beyond ordinary human discourse. Dewey’s naturalistic metaphysics supports his progressive educational philosophy.The duty of education is grounded in its service to democracy; it must help studentsdevelop the ability to express, discuss, and develop their moral reasoning through experiential and experimental learning.