This course is a historical survey of classical American philosophy and Pragmatism, focusing on the development of American philosophical thought in both its academic and wider social settings. The major figures and central problems will be examined with a view to ascertain what, if anything, is distinctive to American philosophy, while highlighting its relationship to other types of philosophy as well as other topics, such as civil rights, art, and education. First, we will discuss some of the origins of American philosophy and read the Transcendentalist and political writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Frederick Douglass. We will then study classical Pragmatism and some contemporary interpretations of it, examining works by the philosophers William James, C. S. Pierce, John Dewey, Richard Bernstein, Richard Shusterman, and Paul C. Taylor. Along the way, we will read works by Jane Addams, W. E. B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, and others. Though this list is far from exhaustive, I hope to incite thought and discussion about the impact and relevance that the ideas of these people have had in the past and continue to have today.

Required Readings:

Readings will be available on Hunter Library e-reserve and Blackboard; students are therefore not required to buy a book, but are responsible for downloading and printing out the reading. If students prefer, they may buy or borrow the volumes from which the readings are taken, but all students must read and bring with them to class the correct readings each day.