It was almost exactly one year ago today that I started this blog so I guess this is my first anniversary post. I started the blog because I wanted to explore the relationship between classical …
Our Evolutionary Crisis
I certainly want to continue with our discussion and I want to explore the profound ideas of Charles Sanders Peirce further, but first I wanted to say a few words in general that I have been …
A New American History
I was a primary and secondary school teacher for many years and one of the things that I taught was history. It always occurred to me that the way we taught history, the events and …
Two Generations of American Philosophy: Part 4
In the fourth instalment of my talk on the roots of American Philosophy I give a brief biographical account of the birth of the American philosophy known as Pragmatism and the contributions of its main …
Two Generations of American Philosophy: Part 3
In this third instalment of my talk on the roots of American Philosophy, I give a brief biographical account of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the emergence of New England Transcendentalism. Audio (14 mins) Download
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 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 …