In this blog I have attempted to create a snapshot of the American philosophy of Pragmatism. In doing this I have emphasized how ideas are developed as part of, and in response to, larger cultural currents. Pragmatism emerged and developed during the height of what is known as the modern era which began with the [...]
All posts for the month January, 2010
The Birth of Integral Theory
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 29, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/29/the-birth-of-integral-theory/
Cosmos, Consciousness and Culture
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 American Philosophy and the teaching of Evolutionary Enlightenment which I have been involved with for 18 years. What I found [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 27, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/27/cosmos-consciousness-and-culture/
John Dewey and Cultural Evolution
What I see in John Dewey’s Instrumentalism is a compelling theory of how the evolution of culture can be consciously guided. Dewey’s ideas about directing the further development of culture rest squarely on his understanding of objects as things with meaning and his understanding of meaning as always pointing to some future utility. For Dewey a thing, [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 24, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/24/john-dewey-and-cultural-evolution/
Ideas and Education
Now back to John Dewey who felt that his instrumental view of reality did away with the philosophical problem of mind and matter. Prior to communication reality is an unending stream of events that are embedded in the circumstances that gave rise to them. With language these events can be named and they become objects, [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 21, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/21/ideas-and-education/
Our Discussion in a College Course
I wanted to tell my readers that I am planning to bring the discussions that we have been having on this blog to a course at a local community college in Western Massachusetts. If any of you are local I would love to see you there. And if you know anyone who might want to [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 18, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/18/our-discussion-in-a-college-course/
Rational Mechanics and the Mind
I want to post one more time before getting back to a few last words on John Dewey and conscious evolution. I have been doing a little research into the development of modern physics because I think there is a useful analogy to be found there and applied to the discussion we have been having [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 16, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/16/rational-mechanics-and-the-mind/
Does anything like a mind exist?
I still have a few more posts on Dewey that I want to put up that lead to an exciting model of cultural evolution, but Carl’s comment to my last post inspired me to write something more about the mind. Carl pointed out how metaphorical my description was, presumably he is making the point that [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 12, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/12/does-anything-like-a-mind-exist/
Riding the Currents on the Ocean of Mind
I can describe the beautiful image that built in my mind as I read John Dewey’s book “Experience and Nature” by describing a vision of reality as currents in the ocean of mind. Think of mind as an ocean and within that ocean there are currents. Now imagine that there are objects floating on the [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 9, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/09/riding-the-currents-on-the-ocean-of-mind/
Communication and the Mind
I still have a few more thoughts about John Dewey’s profound book “Experience and Nature” to develop in this post and the next before I get to explain what hit me while I was reading a week or so ago. In the philosophy of Dewey communication was analogous to the Thirdness described by Charles Sanders [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 7, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/07/communication-and-the-mind/
Embracing Constant Flux
I am on a roll with John Dewey. I was reading through his book “Experience and Nature” for the second time and something finally clicked and I started to see what he was getting at. Once that happpens it is like reading a different book, suddenly I started to be able to understand what I [...]
Posted by Jeff Carreira on January 4, 2010
http://evolutionaryphilosophy.com/2010/01/04/embracing-constant-flux/
