When I speak to people – and I mean Americans – about American philosophy more people than you might think look back at me somewhat bewildered and even chuckle as if I have said something …
What every American needs to know about American Philosophy
For those of us who were educated in the American school system, we all had to study American history. In our history classes we learned about the founding fathers, their ideas and how they led …
Karma, Eastern Thought and the American Mind
American Philosophy since Ralph Waldo Emerson has had a strong connection to Eastern Enlightenment traditions. Emerson was reading the Bagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching, and Zoroastrian texts as they were being translated in the …
Nature Mystics and Scientific Progressives
The European Enlightenment produced two responses; Scientific Rationalism and Romanticism. The Scientific Rationalism represented in the science of Sir Isaac Newton and the philosophy of John Locke. Romanticism produced the writing of Goethe in Germany …
William James and The Absolute
In my last post I tried to evoke a sense of how far personally and culturally human beings might have to go in our own evolution in order to be able to overcome our global …
Do we REALLY believe in Evolution? Gregory Bateson, Part 2
I want to finish the thought that I started in my last post when I used this quote of Gregory Bateson’s – “The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between …
An Ecology of Mind – Gregory Bateson
I read a quote on a website dedicated to a new documentary about the brilliant British anthropologist Gregory Bateson that so perfectly said what I wanted to say about our current economic crisis that I …
Two Generations of American Philosophy: Part 2
In this second instalment of ‘Two Generations of American Philosophy’ I speak about the Ralph Waldo Emerson and William James as teachers and then give some background history of the early 19th century when New …
During times of crisis, Philosophy is not a Luxury
When we face mounting challenges and global crisis like we are now, we are tempted to see philosophy as a luxury item that we can no longer afford. It’s not! In fact, in the face …
Is Barack Obama a Pragmatist?
I have noticed since President Obama’s inauguration, that newspapers, magazines, blog posts, as well as newscasters and political analysts refer to him as a Pragmatist. Whenever I read or hear this reference it makes me …
Two Generations of American Philosophy: Part 1
Recently I gave a talk about certain aspects of the history of American Philosophy and the contemporary work of Andrew Cohen and his philosophy of Evolutionary Enlightenment. I intend to publish that talk in a …
John Dewey’s Insight
John Dewey was younger than William James, but they were contemporaries. Dewey was profoundly influenced by reading James’ book “Principles of Psychology” and became, along with James and Charles Sanders Peirce, the third of a …
Ralph Waldo Emerson and the American Roots of Evolutionary Enlightenment
There has been a revolutionary re-orientation toward reality taking shape in human awareness over the past few centuries as a result of the growing recognition that consciousness, culture and the universe itself are all part …
Emerson, Eyeballs and Evolution by John White
John White is a friend, an explorer of consciousness, a literary agent and the author of numerous books including: The Meeting of Science and Spirit and What Is Enlightenment? After reading my recent post about …
The American Defense of Religion
In an earlier post I characterized American Philosophy as an ever deeper embrace of the concept of evolution. Another way that I understand the general trajectory of American philosophy is as an ever more sophisticated …
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Spiritual but not Religious
It is not uncommon today to find certain segments of society in America and even more so in Europe who would describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. After The Enlightenment in Europe, science and …
The American Embrace of Evolution
The philosophy of Pragmatism that I have begun to discuss in my previous posts is probably the most uniquely American formation of philosophy. It is, of course, building on, and in response to, its European …
When Two Minds Become One
In response to my last post (see below) someone posed an interesting question. They felt they understood what I was writing regarding William James’ view that we live in creative multiple universes. And they accepted …
The Pluralistic Universe of William James
William James, the great American philosopher of the late 19th and early 20th century, was pushing into some fascinating intellectual territory with his ideas about reality. What he was pushing into was a truly post-metaphysical …
My Re-introduction to American New Thought
My interest in the American philosophical tradition re-emerged a few years ago when Andrew Cohen – my spiritual teacher and the person for who I serve as personal assistant – was asked to speak at …