Native Pragmatism: Rethinking the Roots of American Philosophy

by Scott L. Pratt

Overview

Pragmatism is America's most distinctive philosophy. Generally it has
been understood as a development of European thought in response to the
"American wilderness." A closer examination, however, reveals that the
roots and central commitments of pragmatism are indigenous to North America. Native
Pragmatism recovers this history and thus provides the means to re-conceive the
scope and potential of American philosophy. Pragmatism has been at best only
partially understood by those who focus on its European antecedents. This book casts
new light on pragmatism's complex origins and demands a rethinking of African
American and feminist thought in the context of the American philosophical
tradition. Scott L. Pratt demonstrates that pragmatism and its development involved
the work of many thinkers previously overlooked in the history of
philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253108906
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	438 KB

About the Author

Scott L. Pratt is Associate Professor of Philosophy and head of the
Philosophy Department at the University of Oregon. He received his B. A. in
philosophy from Beloit College (Wisconsin) and his Ph.D. from the University of
Minnesota. He teaches American Philosophy and the history of Modern European
Philosophy, and is co-editor of American Philosophies: An Anthology and The
Philosophical Writings of Cadwallader Colden.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

1.
The Problem of Origins
2. American Pragmatism
3. The Colonial
Attitude
4. American Progress
5. The Indigenous
Attitude
6. Welcoming the Cannibals
7. The Logic of
Place
8. "This Very Ground"
9. Science and
Sovereignty
10. The Logic of Home
11. Feminism and
Pragmatism

Conclusion: The Legacy of Native American
Thought

Notes
Works Cited
Index