Web-assisted: Tuesdays 6-9 pm, JUB 202 plus online assignments.
- Doug Anderson, Philosophy Americana: Making Philosophy at Home in American Culture (and see him discussing this book on YouTube) free at amazon (kindle)
- John McDermott, Streams of Experience: Reflections on the History and Philosophy of American Culture $6.83 at amazon (pb)
- Carlin Romano, America the Philosophical (and see Romano, John Kaag and others discussing this book on YouTube) $11.78 at amazon (hardcover)
- John Kaag, American Bloods: The Untamed Dynasty That Shaped a Nation (and see his Concord Museum conversation about this book on YouTuber)
- Kaag and van Belle, eds., Be Not Afraid of Life: In the Words of William James (and see his YouTube discussions of James)
- Kaag and van Belle, eds., Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living (and see his Concord Museum conversation about this book on YouTube)
- American Philosopher (a short film on YouTube)
- William James, The Psychology of Possibility: His life and contributions to the field of psychology (a short film narrated by John McDermott)
- Robert Richardson lecture on William James, on YouTube
- Robert Richardson's biography of William James (preview)
- Phil Oliver's book on William James (preview)
Jy 2 - Introductions (of ourselves and the course). Tell us who you are and why you're here (you can begin to do so in the comments space below)... And:
- What does it mean to you to be an American (in terms of core values and aspirations, for example freedom, democracy, the pursuit of happiness, rights and responsibilities, our relation to other nations and cultures etc. etc.); What does "Americana" mean to you?
- What do you like or dislike about American culture, and American popular culture? Has it improved your quality of life? Has it raised or lowered the bar of "civilization," whatever you understand that to mean?
- What is your previous experience, if any, of philosophy and of American philosophy? If someone asked you what philosophy is, and what is distinctively American about American philosophy, what would you say?
- Any comment on the following?
To some, "Americana" implies a kind of no-nonsense, "common sense" approach to life, a "can-do" spirit of optimism and industriousness with little patience for intellectualism and scholarship (see Richard Hofstadter's 1964 classic Anti-intellectualism in American Life, for instance). With that in mind, a recent WAPO review of Ray Kurzweil’s book about "the Singularity" (when computers will supposedly surpass human intelligence) distinguishes "wordcels" from "shape rotators”... "Wordcels are humanists, effete creatures who trade in anachronisms like writing and philosophy. Shape rotators, in contrast, are staunchly modern, possessed of a ruthlessly practical intelligence. They are the movers and shakers — the engineers and programmers who congregate in Silicon Valley in hopes of remaking the world." My view is that the so-called Rotators are not really possessed of a “practical intelligence” in anything like the pragmatic philosophical sense. Not that they’d understand that, or care.
- Our first meeting comes on the heels of the first presidential "debate" of the '24 election, and thus takes its place in the annals of Americana in our time. We should talk about it. Any comment on this?
“…At the end of the evening, pundits were calling not for Trump—a man liable for sexual assault and business fraud, convicted of 34 felonies, under three other indictments, who lied pathologically—to step down, but for Biden to step down…because he looked and sounded old. At 81, Biden is indeed old, but that does not distinguish him much from Trump, who is 78 and whose inability to answer a question should raise concerns about his mental acuity…
Of far more lasting importance than this one night is the clear evidence that stage performance has trumped substance in political coverage in our era. Nine years after Trump launched his first campaign, the media continues to let him call the shots.” Heather Cox Richardson
- Any comment on the following?
I was recently discussing "the meaning of America" with a friend, and expressed my ambivalence about the total "meaning" of America. He thought it implicit in the Enlightenment values of reason, liberty, tolerance, respect etc. espoused by Jefferson, Adams, Franklin et al. I said:Enlightenment values, yes, but compromised by self-serving racist assumptions about who was and was not capable of receiving the light. The meaning of America has to include an acknowledgement that “all men are created equal” excluded all men of color and many of non-Christian heritage, and women… and that we’re still grappling with the consequences. I like to think Jefferson and company would acknowledge and regret their part in compromising Enlightenment, with the benefit of reflective hindsight and time (and a machine to transcend it). But I also imagine their contrition would be of small consolation to the historical victims of racist discrimination.
Jy 9 - Anderson, Introduction and ch1-2; McDermott, foreword/preface-ch1-3; Romano, Intro-Part 1.
REPORT: ____________
(Some possible topics include, for instance: the origins of pragmatism, the philosophy of Royce, what Anderson means by wilderness, McDermott and Romano on Emerson, McDermott on "the Promethean self," (Romano on) John Rawls vs. Robert Nozick, the neo-pragmatic philosophy of Richard Rorty, ...)
(Get the idea? For subsequent dates, look through the assigned sections and see if anything there appeals to you as a basis for your report.)
Jy 16 - Anderson, ch3-5; McDermott, ch4-7; Romano, Part 2
REPORT: Lauren, Origins of Pragmatism
Jy 23 - Anderson, ch-6-8; McDermott, ch8-10; Romano, Part 3
REPORT: Gary, Pragmatism & 12-step programs
Jy 30 - Anderson, ch9-11; McDermott, ch11-12; Romano, Part 4
REPORT: Erica, Women in Philosophy
Aug 6 - Anderson, ch12-15; McDermott, ch13-14; Parts 5-6
REPORT: Hailey, Isocrates (Romano pt 5)
*Participation. Post at least three relevant comments (including responses to classmates' comments) pertaining to the upcoming assigned reading, prior to each class). We'll mark this with a baseball scorecard. When you come to class, you're on 1st base. Each posted comment gets you to the next base--so three comments enables you to score a run. But why stop at one? (If you don't understand this, ask me to explain and illustrate in class.)
Report. You can report on one of my topic suggestions or you can propose your own report topic, so long as it connects with something in our texts. On your assigned reporting day, tell us what you've learned about your topic, in our texts and beyond. Aim to present your main findings in ten minutes or more, give us a couple of discussion questions, and lead discussion.
Your course grade will be based equally on participation and your report.
Who I am, and why I'm here: see my little bio (under "Who's up") in the right sidebar of my Up@dawn blog, https://jposopher.blogspot.com/ .
ReplyDeleteWhat does Americana mean to me? I haven't nailed down a precise definition, but I guess it's whatever in the culture (artistic, historical, intellectual, popular) seems to reflect or encourage our better aspirations and ideals... or, less grandly, whatever seems to support "the pursuit of happiness" by diverse individuals in their variously diverse ways. A friend mentioned the old institution of the neighborhood ice cream vendor, rolling through the residential streets with his little jingle playing on a loudspeaker, as an example that came instantly to mind as something no one should object to. Is Americana whatever we associate with the way things were in a simpler time, or a time when some things transcended politics, or in the time of our un-jaded youth?
When I free-associate the word, what initially comes to mind is the eponymous music genre (a grab-bag of disparate styles and sources, sharing a loose connection in their country of origin), then basically all the things I’d put on my list of favorite American things: baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, summertime, Ben Franklin-style common sense and ingenuity, Thomas Jefferson-style commitment to Enlightenment values (compromised by slavery and racism), pragmatism, optimism (tempered by stoicism and improved by meliorism), pluralism, diversity, melting pot openness to newcomers (“send us your tired, your poor” etc.), Thoreauvian individualism and naturalism, Emersonian self-reliance and non-conformism, Mark Twain-style patriotism ("support your country always, your government when it's deserved"), NOT Lee Greenwood/MAGA-style nationalism. President Bartlett (West Wing), Will McEvoy-style Republicanism (in Newsroom), encompassing both the opening soliloquy about America not being the greatest nation AND the closing song about romantic yearning and sentiment (Tom T’s How I Got to Memphis)…
Looking forward to this conversation!
Please introduce yourselves...
My name is Hailey Reissner. I have my Bachelor's degree in Anthropology, which I completed last summer. I am here because of my interests in culture and what defines who, how, what, and why we are.
ReplyDeleteI've never really thought about what being American is to me. The culture has a major impact on how I view the world and address the things around me. If we're sticking to the basis of American features, then the freedom of choice sticks out. From religion to education, this availability to us is widely overlooked and underappreciated. But on a grander scheme, it means to be thriving in a culture with aspects of all others. The freedom really rains true from this point of view. Americana can be achieved in any aspect of reality, and ultimately it varies person to person. If I think of Americana objectively, then it's the stereotypes of the United States. So living the easy life, having a white picket fence, nations flag hoisted, having burgers and bbq, and having big aspirations.
American culture is widely based on the premises of showing off or being better than others around. Especially today, popular social media and media culture is personal boasting for others to look upon. Personally, I think it has lowered the bar for civilization, because the core values aren't seen. I actually think that America is greedy and glutinous.
My previous experience with American philosophy came from a class I took during my undergrad. It was supposed to be a religious course, but we covered a lot of what it means to actually be American and how we view the world. For me, American philosophy comes from the distinction of "make it our own", so taking an aspect from a different culture and making it American. The American Jeremiad would be my definition.
Hi Hailey. Unfortunately, many in the world would agree that "America is greedy and glutinous"... but one of the messages of our course, especially from Carlin Romano's "America the Philosophical," will be that America is too big and teeming, too diverse and pluralistic a country to support a generalization like that. Many Americans are greedy and glutinous, of course, and many of America's politicians have led the country down the wrong roads in both domestic and foreign policy. But many other Americans are selfless and humane, and (though the examples lately are harder to spot) some of our politicians have been statesmen/-women who wanted to behave responsibly in civic and foreign affairs. Sadly though, being an American these days seems to mean picking sides and excoriating the other one.
DeleteI look forward to hearing more about "American Jeremiad"...
Posted for Gary:
ReplyDeleteWho are you? Why are you here (at MTSU)
My name is Gary Wedgewood. I have been auditing classes at MTSU for about six years now. I have taken a wide variety of the offerings in the Religious Studies and Philosophy departments. I am a retired ordained United Methodist elder and pastor. I continue to pastor a church part-time in Wilson County where I live in Mount Juliet. My wife (who is a retired public-school teacher who continues to teach part-time) and I are both auditing classes at MTSU. We are both dedicated lifelong learners. In college I majored in Philosophy and Religion, Religious Studies, and minored in Theater. I have the M.Div. (Divinity), M.A.C.E. (Christian Education) Masters degrees, and completed course work for a Masters is Counseling Psychology. I have worked as a campus minister at Ohio Wesleyan University and as the director of a Wesley Foundation at Northeastern Oklahoma State University where I taught World Religions. After that I did youth ministry for a number of years. I have spent the rest of my 45 years in ministry as a pastor of local churches.
For me being an American, first and foremost, means freedom to be who I want to be, to travel, to live where I want to live, to say what I think and feel, to choose any spiritual or religious practice I prefer, and most important to this class it means the hope for academic freedom. I am committed to exercising my rights, especially the right and responsibility to vote, in this democracy and I am opposed to autocracy, theocracy, or any form of dictatorship. I have traveled many places in the world and in North America over the years. My contacts with people of other countries and cultures has convinced me that humans everywhere have much in common, especially when it comes to their aspirations and hopes for a good life. So, when it comes to the question of what “Americana” means to me, I see many of the same qualities in cultures around the world being blended into the melting pot we call American culture or Americana. Of course, there are uniquely American features in our history, landscapes, music, media etc. which have spread to other cultures around the world, but even many of those things have roots in other cultures. We are after all, largely, a nation of generations of immigrants from other lands and cultures. Still, most of the people in the world outside America have distinct impressions (some good, some bad) about what broadly and typically characterizes America. They are especially aware of music (Taylor Swift and her Eras tour for example) and entertainment (social media, television, and movies especially) that originate in America. (continues)
(Gary continues)
DeleteAt this point in American history, I especially appreciate the quality of life I enjoy, the pleasures and comforts of every day existence. I dislike the distorted views we see in media and the emphasis on national politics, the culture war and polarization, and reporting violent events that serves to promote ratings for media businesses. It is particularly disturbing to me that much of what is called news today is in fact purely entertainment unhinged from truth and facts, ultimately a fantasy. When I compare these two experiences, I see a huge disconnect, to the point that it can been said that there are diametrically opposed experiences of what is real in our nation right now. This stands in sharp contrast to my earliest experiences as a child when there was much more of a consensus about what was real, true, and what it meant to be an American. What I see going on in our country today has clearly lowered the bar of “civilization” and is a very distressing development to me and many other people around the world.
When it comes to philosophy, American culture failed to produce many philosophers in the early years of our history. Our culture was largely dominated by European philosophical thinking for many generations until thinkers like William James came along. However, if we look beyond academia, I think we can find that America has had many armchair philosophers from its early beginnings. This might be the most distinct thing about American philosophy, that it bubbles up from the most ordinary people and places and does not always originate as an academic pursuit. It is practical, like the philosophy I learned from my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Many of them were typical American farmers, self-taught, brimming with practical knowledge about farming, carpentry, mechanical things, blacksmithing, gardening, the weather, religion, and so on. I learned a great deal from those grass root philosophers as a young man.
I enjoy reading for my classes at MTSU, preparing and delivering sermons at the church I serve, cooking, doing handyman work around my home and community, travel adventures, being with my wife and family, swimming three to four times a week and walking on the other days, and many other things in my very American lifestyle. I find life exciting, interesting, enjoyable, and doing these many thing refreshes me and is beneficial overall to my health. In the end, I am just a piece in the vast puzzle we might call “Americana”.
I am looking forward to studying with Dr. Oliver and the other students in this class.
Gary Wedgewood
Hi again, Gary. Sorry the comments space doesn't allow room enough for your introduction except in installments... but once you've opened your author invitation (those were sent out originally on the 19th) you can republish this as a main post.
DeleteFor the record, just for those who may not know: Philosophy and Religious Studies is a single department, though faculty in those two fields are trained very differently and in separate academic programs. Nonetheless, we peaceably coexist. I encourage you all to take ALL of our courses.
Also for the record: having Gary audit all of my courses (some more than once) has been a delight. He'll not be able to join us every Tuesday in person but he's promised to engage with the course content and discussion online as much as he can. You'll enjoy getting to know him.
"Our culture was largely dominated by European philosophical thinking for many generations until thinkers like William James came along." I'm WJ's biggest fan, but I'd give his predecessor Emerson major credit for launching the American philosophical tradition, especially with his essay "The American Scholar"...
"...Our day of dependence, our long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands, draws to a close. The millions that around us are rushing into life cannot always be fed on the sere remains of foreign harvests... Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given; forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books... We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds..." https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16643/16643-h/16643-h.htm#THE_AMERICAN_SCHOLAR
DeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI am Lauren Maddox and I am here because I needed that 6050 credit and because I wanted more experience with philosophy and am intrigued by the American Experience approach we’ll be using to study. I did not have much experience in philosophy in my undergrad, my “philosophy” course was Faith and Suffering and was more of a history course than a philosophy course.
I’ve never really attempted to define what it means to be American, outside of being born an American. I would have to describe it as an amalgamation of a “can-do attitude”, rugged individualism, and an uncompromising need to be the best. I’m not sure those traits are always positive, but they certainly shape the world. Americana is the uniquely American methodology and effects of pursuing that American Dream. The word conjures images of folksy music and red, white, and blue quilted stars.
For the most part, I have neutral feelings about the American culture. I love the independence we seek and that we are not only defined by our families or communities. I do not love that we often emphasize the bottom lines instead of the humans creating them. I do not love that we have shifted from an “anyone can be anything” idealogy (I know this really only applied to land-owning white men for most of our history) to an idealogy that glorifies the blatant abuse of those seen as less than, the have-nots if you will. Perhaps it has always been that way since the American version of success was denied to minorities for so long. The more I ponder it, the more I realize that I appreciate the cartoon version of the American culture, the softer and kinder version. Without sounding like I am complaining, I don’t think that this has improved my quality of life. That’s not a bad thing, it just is what it is. I do believe that this has lowered the bar for civilization, curret American culture does not leave many supports for the disenfranchised and history has shown that the abandonment of those that are unable to care for themselves is a portend of doom for life has that culture understands it. I cannot help but think that we are poised upon that precipice and entirely too close to the point of no return.
I do not have much experience with philosophy, and even less with American Philosophy. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge base. When asked to define philosophy, I find myself describing it as thinking and puzzling out the mysteries of the universe, often by looking inward. I do not know if that is the best definition but it makes sense for me.
The day after the debate, I saw a meme that was an image of JFK and Nixon’s debate that labeled JFK as Trump and Nixon as Biden. I know this was a joke but it was a poignant comparison, where the debate between JFK and Nixon ushered in a new era in politics and this first debate of 2024 will also bring in a new era for American politics.
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThoughtful intro, thanks.
But “JFK as Trump”-!! Reminds me of what Senator Benson said in the vice presidential debate with Dan Quayle: “ I knew Jack Kennedy, senator… You are no Jack Kennedy”…
Dr.Oliver, not “anon”
DeleteAnd it was “Bentsen”… That’s what I get the trusting voice transcription.
DeleteI would need to do my report on July 23rd. I am not sure what the topic will be at this point.
ReplyDeleteOkay. You posted as "Anonymous," your name please?
DeleteCould you put me down for July 30th? I, too, am unsure about the topic. I should know by this Tuesday.
DeleteMy topic will be Women in Philosophy.
DeleteAll yours.
DeleteWell, I introduced myself during class so I won't reiterate... except to say my greatest American purpose is motherhood. My 3 amazing kids, 1 amazing daughter-in-love, and my beautiful 9-month-old granddaughter as well as countless friends of my kids who call me "2nd mom" are my joys. They embody my American Dream. I love having the freedom to raise them as I want. I love watching them grow and change and become young adults. I am proud of them. And will support them and be here for them no matter what. They know nothing can separate me and them permanently nor drive my love away from them. Yes, there are disappointments and yes, there are times when we argue and disagree. Of course! But I'm raising/have raised strong, smart, caring people. I wish all American parents and children could have the kind of relationships I have with my children. Despite all the pain we've endured, we went from being victims to survivors, and most days we are thrivers. I long to help other moms and children and non-offending dads find resources, connect with other MOSACs (Mothers of Sexually Assaulted Children), and thrive, too. That's why I'm pursuing my graduate degree... to create an organization that does just those things (and more...my dreams are big).
ReplyDeleteI guess you could say I believe in "AN" American Dream but not necessarily the one our society says to embrace. Besides having a cushy job and lots of money and things, I'm not sure what their American Dream is. And I don't believe I'll ever attain it. So I'm creating my own.
I look forward to being challenged academically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, and however else I get challenged in this course with my classmates and our professor. I know I was spinning with paradigm shifts by the end of our first class. LOL. See y'all on Tuesday.
Shift happens!
DeleteFor my report, can I claim the topic "The Origins of Pragmatism"?
ReplyDeleteCan I present July 16th? It seems the 23rd and 30th have been claimed already.
Sure.
DeleteThis is Gary Wedgewood. I am not sure why my previous comment showed us as anonymous. Anyway, I am working on a presentation about "How American Pragmatic Philosophy Led to the Founding of Twelve-Step Programs Like Alcoholics Anonymous"
ReplyDeleteI will take August 6th for my report since I am out of town this week to do July 9th. I will do my report over "Isocrates: A Man not a Typo" which is Part 5 of Romano's book.
ReplyDelete