American Philosophy: From Wounded Knee to the Present

American Philosophy: Wounded Knee To The Present

So much is wonderful, thoughtful, and informative about this book and so much is dogmatic and infuriating. I loved most of this book with its provocations, but it began to wear out its welcome towards the end. Erin McKenna and Scott Pratt are both professors of philosophy at Pacific Lutheran University and the authors of this lengthy, ambitious book, "American Philosophy From Wounded Knee to the Present." This book is a history of American philosophical thinking, social and political thinking, polemic, and much more.

The book sees American philosophy as centered in a philosophy of resistance. The book observes that some individuals have denied that there is an "American" philosophy "because it associates the endeavor with industrial capitalism, militarism, the creation of grinding poverty and extreme wealth, exploitation based upon gender and race, and global domination." This would present a dismal picture indeed, and the book focuses on the path of American philosophy as "inexorably bound to a history of domination and the struggle for liberation" and for its resistance to what the individuals denying the possibility of an "American" philosophy understand of the nature of American life. McKenna and Pratt thus devote a great deal of attention to writers that for a long time received little attention in the study of American philosophy -- Indians, African Americans, women, Latin Americans, and more. The book intertwines discussion of these once little known figures with a treatment of American pragmatism and its successors in American academic philosophy, particularly analytic philosophy. It is sometimes difficult to tell which philosophers are on the side of resistance.

The book is in six large parts organized chronologically as well as thematically. The opening part covers the years 1894 -- 1918, with the end of WW I. Besides discussing early Indian, feminist, and labor figures, the book describes the American thinkers Peirce, James, Royce, Dewey, and Jane Addams. There is a great deal to cover in the small space of each chapter, and the discussions are good, if quick. The second part of the book covers the period 1918 -- 1939 and the history of these years with attention to W.E.B. Dubois, Morris R. Cohen, Mary Follett, and the cultural pluralism associated with Kallen and Alain Locke. Part 3 of the book covers the years 1939 -- 1979 with the dominance of analytical philosophy in the United States together with the rise of philosophers from a variety of competing perspectives who found that analytical philosophy was limited in scope and believed that philosophy should move at least in part in other directions. In part 4, McKenna and Pratt discuss early environmental philosophy, social critics such as C. Wright Mills, and political philosophers including John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and Noam Chomsky. Part 5 includes chapters devoted to Latin American, feminist, Indian, Black Power and environmental thinkers of the second half of the Twentieth Century. In the final part of the book, the authors offer valuable suggestions for exploring the work of key American thinkers such as Peirce, James, Dewey, and Royce and discuss their views of the current state of American philosophy and of the American polity and their vision for the future.

The value of the book lies primarily in the wonderful diversity and creativity of thinking in the United States. It offers introductions to familiar figures as well as information about thinkers who deserve to be read. There is a great deal to be learned from figures such as Mary Whiton Calkins, Jacob Lowenberg, Vine Deloria, a range of thinkers from Latin America and more that are explored in the book. I learned a great deal as well from the book's exposition of Black Power and feminist thinkers. As the book emphasizes repeatedly, there is value in pluralism and in exposure to widely different points of view. It is always good to be reminded that one can learn from those with whom one may not fully agree. The parts of the book that are chronologically arranged include brief suggestions for reading at the end of each chapter. The extensive bibliography of the book is arranged by chapters thus encouraging readers to research more deeply figures they find interesting.

The book is marred heavily by its polemical tone and by the assurance of the authors that their political vision and understanding of the scope and nature of philosophy are correct to the exclusion of others. The book praises the fallibilism associated with Charles Peirce and other American pragmatists but does not practice it. There is never any doubt about which political and philosophical sides the book is on. The book sees the proper direction of American philosophy as "promoting critical thought and action in a tradition of pluralism and resistance. Without this voice present we are likely to return to or continue the kind of 'culture wars' that were spawned in the United States in the 1960s and continue in various forms to this day." The specter of the 1960s hangs heavily over this book. Perhaps there is a sense in which one may find a way out of the increased polarization and a form of healing.

The critical nature of the book circles back on itself. I was reminded of two popular studies to which the authors refer in their introduction: Louis Menand's "The Metaphysical Club" and Carlin Romano's "America the Philosophical",both of which I have reviewed here. These books cover some of the same thinkers and themes as does McKenna's and Pratt's book. They give the sense of the United States as intellectually alive and vibrant in contrast to the derogations leveled by some at "idiot America". At its best, McKenna and Pratt have taught me again to love the United States and the scope it has afforded with its faults for thought, growth and life. This was the primary teaching of the book for me even though it was not the major lesson the authors intended to convey. Readers who love the life of the mind and who are interested in its great variety and iconoclasm in the United States will want to read and mostly love this book.

Robin Friedman