Further Studies in Pragmatism

Aboulafia, Mitchell (1991). Philosophy, Social Theory, and the Thought of George Herbert Mead. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Essays assembled in this volume examine the works and life of George Herbert Mead, pragmatist philosopher and social thinker, whose ideas have had a profound impact on social theory in this country and abroad. Contributors to this volume, American and continental scholars, show the centrality of Mead’s ideas for understanding human interaction. The discussion illuminates the dialectics of self and society in the ongoing process of social reconstruction.

Aboulafia, Mitchell., ed. (2002). Habermas and Pragmatism. New York: Routledge.

Jurgen Habermas is a German philosopher seeking to blend the best of continental and American social thought. Papers collected in this volume discuss Habermas’s contribution to the ongoing trans-Atlantic dialogue, focusing among other things on the philosophy of language, the nature of democracy, the problems of rationality, and the directions in contemporary social theory. Habermas and Pragmatism includes an essay by Jurgen Habermas addressing some of the points raised by his critics.

Aboulafia, Mitchell (2001). The Cosmopolitan Self. University of Illinois Press.

Mitchell Aboulafia examines the relevance of the American pragmatist philosopher George Herbert Mead to current debates on pluralism, universalism, and the fostering of a democratic temper. Addressing the relationship between Mead's notions of self and society and those of important continental thinkers, The Cosmopolitan Self demonstrates that Mead's ideas not only speak to resolving the tension between universalism and pluralism, they do so in a manner that challenges and advances the positions of these continental theoreticians.

Alexander, Thomas (1987). John Dewey's Theory of Art, Experience and Nature: The Horizons of Feeling. State University of New York Press.

This is an inquiry into the esthetic theories of John Dewey. Starting with his theory of meaning, the author makes the case that Dewey's thought on the place of art in society is pivotal for understanding his entire philosophical corpus. Alexander defends Dewey against the charges that his perspective on art derives from philosophical idealism. Dewey's notion of aesthetic experience, the author shows, is entirely consistent with his naturalistic metaphysics. The book points to the fresh vistas that pragmatist analysis brings to aesthetic theory and practice.

Antonio, Robert. and Doug Kellner (1992). “Communication, Democratization, and Modernity: Critical Reflections on Habermas and Dewey." Symbolic Interaction. 15:277-97.

In their wide-ranging essay, Robert Antonio and Douglass Kellner make the case for the continuing relevance of American pragmatism for our time, for the project of social reconstruction and procedurally rational democracy. Defending Dewey against the charges that his perspective on art derives from philosophical idealism, the author shows why the notion of aesthetic experience is entirely consistent with naturalistic metaphysics. The book spells out the rich and still under-explored implications of Dewey’s aesthetics for contemporary art theory and practice.

Bernstein, Richard (1991). The New Constellation. Cambridge: Polity Press.

The New Constellation is a critical study in contemporary social thought that examines the ideas of Heidegger, Derrida, Foucault, Rorty, and Habermas. Richard Bernstein shows how these diverse thinkers have shaped the debate about modernity and its discontents. The book points to the numerous converges in their works and disparate ways in which the ideas of these authors have informed the current debate about the nature of postmodernity.

Bernstein, Richard (1999). Praxis and Action: Contemporary Philosophies of Human Activity. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Richard Bernstein takes up the notion of practice as a key philosophical category and shows how it has been appropriated in four modern philosophical currents – Marxism, existentialism, pragmatism, and analytic philosophy. Building on his earlier work, Bernstein argues the vitality of the pragmatist perspective on objective reality as historically emergent, socially transformed, and agent-bound.

Bernstein, Richard (2002). Radical Evil: A Philosophical Interrogation. Polity Press.

According to Richard Bernstein, there can be no general theory of evil which is bound to defy our effort to grasp it in theoretical terms. Yet, we can and must grapple with evil as it confronts us in specific historical forms. Rejecting both Kant’s moral absolutism and Hegel's dialectical attempt to transcend good and evil, Bernstein finds hope in a kind of pragmatist meliorism that goads us toward civic engagement and ethical existence as sane as historical circumstances allow.

Brent, Jospeh (1998). Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life. Indiana University Press.

In this first full-length biography of Peirce, Joseph Brent presents an extraordinary portrait of the Charles Sanders Peirce, a founder of American pragmatism, who devised a realist metaphysics and attempted to achieve direct knowledge of God by applying the logic of science. The author shows Peirce as a volatile, difficult man, whose achievements were not readily recognized but whose intellectual stature as one of the key figures in early pragmatism is now firmly established.

Brint, Michael and William Weaver, eds. (1991). Pragmatism in Law and Society. New Perspectives on Law, Culture, and Society. Westview Press.

Writers hailing from law, literature, philosophy, and social science reflect on the interfaces of law and society and the meaning of pragmatic jurisprudence. Among contributors are Thomas Grey, Richard Posner, Stanley Fish, E. D. Hirsh, Richard Rorty, Lynn Baker, Cornel West, Margaret Jane Radin, Joan Williams, Hilary Putnam, Milton Fisk, Catharine Wells, Sanford Levinson, Steven Knapp, and David Hoy.

Campbell, James (1992). The Community Reconstructs: The Meaning of Pragmatic Social Thought. The University of Illinois Press.

Drawing on the works of James, Dewey, Mead, and Tufts, James Campbell analyzes the contribution of pragmatist to American social thought. The discussion focuses on the community’s potential for ongoing inquiry into its foundations and its capacity for intelligent collective action the face of many challenges confronting society today.

Colapietro, M. Vincent (1989). Peirce's Approach to the Self: A Semiotic Perspective on Human Subjectivity. State University of New York Press.

Based on Peirce’s unpublished manuscripts, the author outlines Peirce’s general theory of sings and subjectivity. The book places the Peircean semiotics in its historical context, notably in its relationship to James and Saussure. The discussion extends to contemporary theorists like Eco and Kristeva and addresses current controversies surrounding the theory of sings.

Cook, Gary A. (1993). George Herbert Mead: The Making of a Social Pragmatist. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press

This is the book about the intellectual development of George Herbert Mead as a thinker of great originality and as a practitioner of social reform. Gary Cook traces the genesis of Mead’s social psychological and philosophical ideas by drawing on his less known articles that appeared during his lifetime, as well as posthumous publications.

Davaney, Sheila Greeve and Warren G. Frisina. eds. (2006). The Pragmatic Century: Conversations With Richard J. Bernstein. State University of New York Press

A collection of interviews with Richard Bernstein where he reflects on contemporary philosophy, civic engagement, and his life and times.

Dickstein, Morris (1998). The Revival of Pragmatism: New Essays on Social Thought, Law, and Culture. Duke University Press.

This collection of essays by leading philosophers, legal theorists, cultural historians and literary critics writing today explores the status of pragmatism in the late 20th century. Among the contributors are Richard Rorty, Richard Posner, Hilary Putnam, Sidney Morgenbesser, Ruth Anna Putnam, Stanley Cavell, James Kloppenberg, Robert Westbrook, Richard Bernstein, Nancy Fraser, Hans Joas, Alan Wolfe, and other scholars.

Diggins, Johan Patrick (1994). The Promise of Pragmatism: Modernism and the Crisis of Knowledge and Authority. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

In this critique of pragmatism and neopragmatism, John Diggins traces the attempts of thinkers from William James to Richard Rorty to come to grips with the troubled legacy of modernism. The author analyzes the limitations of pragmatism from a historical perspective and asks whether America 's one original contribution to the world of philosophy has actually fulfilled its promise.

Gouinlock, James (1972). John Dewey's Philosphy of Value. New York: Humanties Press.

This book brings into focus Dewey’s philosophy of value and a naturalist ontology in which it is rooted. The author shows how Dewey’s perspective on moral inquiry can illuminate perplexing problems of philosophy, as well as aid individuals and communities grappling with everyday moral issues.

Gouinlock, James (1989). Excellence in Public Discourse: John Stuart Mill, John Dewey, and Social Intelligence. Teachers College.

In this John Dewey Lectures on which this book is based, Gouinlock focuses on moral intelligence theorized and practiced by this key figure in American pragmatism, compares his approach to that of John Stuart Mill, and urges the renewal of the pragmatist commitment to ongoing moral inquiry.

Hollinger, Robert and David Depew, eds. (1995). Pragmatism: From Progresivism to Postmodernism. Praeger.

A group of philosophers, cultural critics, and historians explore in this volume the genesis and evolution of American pragmatism. The emphasis is on the interrelations between the philosophical or foundational issues raised by pragmatism as a philosophical movement, and the cultural, political, and educational programs that have been associated with pragmatism from James, Dewey, and Mead to Rorty and Cornel West.

Halton, Eugene (1995). Bereft of Reason. On the Decline of Social Thought and Prospects for Its Renewal. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bereft of Reason makes the case that today's social theories remain shackled to the modern myth of "the ghost in the machine." According to Halton, most contemporary theories of rationality as well as of antirationality, present a picture where reason appears spectral and material world mechanical. This dichotomous view is characteristic of modernity and represents what the author calls "the modern error."

Halton, Eugene (1986). Meaning and Modernity. Social Theory in Pragmatic Attitude. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Drawing on the works of John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, and particularly C.S. Peirce, Meaning and Modernity reconstructs contemporary social theory in light of concepts derived from classical pragmatist philosophy. The book offers a sustained critique of modern culture in which (Rochberg-) Halton brings the radically pragmatic attitude to bear on twentieth-century thought and its counterparts in the expressive arts.

Hickey, Dave (1994). The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty. Art Issues Press.

In this collection of essays on the nature, meaning, and destiny of beauty in the late 20th century, Dave Hickey reconsiders the rhetoric of beauty in Western art. The discussion touches upon Raphael, Andy Warhol, Caravaggio, and Michel Foucault. Among the book’s chief contentions is that modern art institutions need to be thoroughly democratized, with the vernacular of beauty harnessed to the cause of social change.

Hickman, Larry A (1992). John Dewey's Pragmatic Technology. Indiana University Press.

The book is a reexamination of Dewey's thought on technology through the prism of his pragmatist discussion of experience, logical inquiry, and tool-aided practice.

Hickman, Larry A (1998). Reading Dewey: Interpretations for a Postmodern Generation. Indiana University Press.

Larry Hickman traces parallels and discontinuities between John Dewey and contemporary constructionism, arguing the centrality of pragmatist insights for our time.

Hickman, Larry A (2001). Philosophical Tools for Technological Culture: Putting Pragmatism to Work. Indiana University Press.

Philosophical Tools for Technological Culture contends that technology--a defining mark of contemporary culture--should be a legitimate concern of philosophers. This original, timely, and accessible work will be of interest to readers seeking a deeper understanding of the meanings and consequences of technology in today's world.

Dave Hickey (1997). Air Guitar: Essays on Art & Democracy. Art Issues Press.

An irreverent look at the margins of art and culture that clues the reader to many a pleasures the author found in off-the-beaten track record stores, jazz clubs, and art galleries. Mixing philosophical idioms with down to earth descriptions, the author offers a pragmatic take on beauty and esthetic experience that subverts conventions of art criticism.

Joas, Hans (1993). Pragmatism and Social Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Pragmatism and Social Theory is a collection of essays focusing on pragmatism as a unifying framework that can link divergent intellectual efforts to understand the social contexts of human knowledge, individual freedom, and democratic culture. The book explores the American social science tradition, its indebtedness to the pragmatist thought, and the reception of this tradition in Europe.

Joas, H. (1992). The Creativity of Action. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Taking philosophical pragmatism as its guide, the author outlines a new theory of action which treats human activity as creative to the core and not just in its implications. The Creativity of Action addresses the nature of human intentions, intersubjectivity, and the embodied character of human action, demonstrating the centrality of classical pragmatism for contemporary social theory.

Kilpinen, Erkki (2000). The Enormous Fly-Wheel of Society. Pragmatism's Habitual Conception of Action and Social Theory. Hakapaino Oy: University of Helsinki.

This is a wide ranging exploration of “habit” as a central category of pragmatist philosophy and sociology. Drawing on the work of Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead, the author examines the interplay between pragmatist theory and political practice of its founding figures. The discussion extends to contemporary sociologists, notably Talcott Parsons, whose perspective on social action is compared and contrasted to sociological theories informed by pragmatism.

Kloppenberg, James T. (1986). Uncertain Victory. Social Democracy and Progessivism in European and American Thought, 1870-1920. New York: Oxford University Press.

Between 1870 and 1920, two generations of European and American intellectuals created a transatlantic community of philosophical and political discourse. Uncertain Victory, a comparative study of ideas and politics in the United States, Germany, France, and Great Britain, demonstrates how a wide range of theorists and activists laid the philosophical foundations for new programs of social democracy informed by pragmatist philosophy.

Kloppenberg, James T. (2000). The Virtues of Liberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.

James Kloppenberg shows how the multifaceted virtues of liberalism have inspired theorists and reformers from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison through Jane Addams and John Dewey to Martin Luther King, Jr. and then explains how these virtues persist in the work of liberal democrats today. Endorsing the efforts of contemporary neo-progressive and communitarian theorists, the author defends liberalism from its conservative and radical critics.

Lyng, Stephen and David Franks. (2002). Sociology and the Real World. Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield.

Drawing on the transactional framework developed by Chicago pragmatists, the authors reexamine contemporary sociological theory with an eye to restoring respect for such concepts as objectivity, reality, and truth. Sociology and the Real World reaffirms the interpretive nature of human life while at the same time showing the profoundly embodied character of human interactions, as it manifests itself in the socially-conditioned brain circuitry and relational properties of human emotions.

Margolis, Joseph (2002). Reinventing Pragmatism: American Philosophy at the End of the Twentieth Century. Cornell University Press.

Reinventing Pragmatism examines the force of the new pragmatisms, from the emergence of Rorty's and Putnam's basic disagreements of the 1970s until the turn of the century. Joseph Margolis considers the revival of a movement as both a surprise and a turn of great importance. The quarrel between Rorty and Putnam obliged American philosophers, and eventually Eurocentric philosophy as a whole, to reconsider American and European philosophy in terms of competing accounts of realism and naturalism.

Margolis, Joseph (1999). What, After All, Is a Work of Art?: Lectures in the Philosophy of Art. Pennsylvania State University Press.

The book starts with a review of prominent philosophies of art developed over the past half-century, and highlighting the need for carefully distinguishing between the metaphysical and epistemological features of physical nature and human culture. The second part of the book builds on the first part’s analyses of artworks to propose a theory of selves as "self-interpreting texts." The author’s main point is that our analysis of physical nature and our analysis of ourselves are mutually constitutive, and henceforth, should not be artificially separated.

Margolis, Joseph (2006). Introduction to Philosophical Problems. Continuum International Publishing Group.

Joseph Margolis introduces the reader to the central questions of Western philosophy. The book demonstrates not only how philosophical arguments progress but also how the most fundamental questions relate to each other. Addressing the non-specialist audience, the author deploys the philosophical intelligence inspired by pragmatism and makes clear in the process why it remains relevant for our times.

Menand, Louis (2001 ). The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The book follows the evolution of pragmatism as it emerged from the minds of four of the club's "members": Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James, Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey. The Metaphysical Club describes how the lives of these great thinkers interconnect, places their work in their historical setting, and highlights their significance for our times.

Merrell, Flyod (1997). Peirce, Signs, and Meaning. University of Toronto Press.

Floyd Merrell juxtaposes Peirce's thought to that of early-twentieth-century philosophers such as Frege, Russell, and Quine, as well as contemporaries like Goodman, Putnam, Davidson, and Rorty. The book demonstrates how quests for meaning falls victim to vagueness in pursuit of generality, and how vagueness manifests an inevitable tinge of inconsistency, just as generalities always remain incomplete. Merrell also argues that the twentieth-century search for meaning has placed overbearing stress on language while ignoring nonlinguistic sign modes and means.

Nussbaum, Martha C. (2001). Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. New York: Cambridge University Press.

In this extensive study, the author makes the case for emotions as central to ethical reasoning and conduct. The discussion starts with ancient Greek philosophy, and then focuses on the often frustrating efforts to carve out a place for emotions in philosophical inquiry. Blending studies from philosophy, anthropology, psychology, philology, musicology, and jurisprudence, the author lays out a theoretical framework designed to bring into one continuum reason, emotions, and conduct.

Nussbaum, Martha C. (2004). Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This is a study of disgust and shame and the far-reaching implications that primal emotions have for law, morality, and religion. The author cautions against pubic morality that seeks to harness the sense of repugnance for public good. To this stigmatization-based morality and legal practice, the author juxtaposes the liberal philosophy of John Stuart Mill who advocated a humane treatment of social outcasts.

Orril, Robert, ed. (1998). Education and Democracy: Re-imagining Liberal Learning in America. College Board.

This collection of essays explores the theory and practice of contemporary liberal education from the perspective of American pragmatism, with John Dewey's work serving as a general reference frame for the discussion. The result is a reimagined liberal education adapted to the needs of American democracy in the twenty-first century.

Pettegrew, John (2000). Pragmatism's Progress. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

A host of scholars examine Richard Rorty's influence on twentieth-century American pragmatism and its commitment to achieving social democracy. The volume includes James Kloppenberg's chapter "Pragmatism: The Old Name for Some New Ways of Thinking?", Joan Williams' article "Rorty, Radicalism, Romanticism: The Politics of the Gaze," Casey Nelson Blake's paper "Public Life and Private Commitments," John Pettegrew's chapter on "Life's of Irony: Randolph Bourne, Richard Rorty, & a New Genealogy of Critical Pragmatism," Barry Allen's chapter "Is It Pragmatism? Rorty and the American Tradition," and other authors, including Richard Rorty's response to critics.

Posner, Richard A. (2003). Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

The author develops a pragmatist perspective on government, arguing that public representatives rely less on abstract reasons and rational deliberations than on interests and discretion in their decision making. According to the liberal perspective outlined in this volume, democracy is best understood as an ongoing struggle for power through elections where citizens choose among moral entrepreneurs competing for offices on the promise to deliver better times to the public unable and/or unwilling to work its way through intractable issues of day-to-day politics.

Posner, Richard A. (2003). Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

In this book, Richard Posner examines the changing role that public intellectuals have played in American society and politics. The discussion focuses on writers like Milton Friedman, Martha Nussbaum, Lani Guinier, Noam Chomsky, Gertrude Himmlefarb, and Stephen Jay Gould, and Andrea Dworkin, whose public stance is contrasted to that of George Orwell. The author expresses his concern about the declining quality of pubic discourse and suggests ways to improve it.

Posner, Richard A. (1990). Cardozo: A Study in Reputation. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

This is study of Benjamin Cardozo (1870-1938), a seminal legal scholar and U.S. Supreme Court Justice who left a mark on American jurisprudence through his acclaimed holdings, breadth of his scholarship, and graceful literary style. The author compares Cardozo with contemporary thinkers, including Oliver Wendell Holmes who developed kindred ideas in the spirit or American pragmatism.

Posner, Richard A. (2003). The Essential Holmes: Selections from the Letters, Speeches, Judicial Opinions, and Other Writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Edited and with an Introduction by Richard A. Posner. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

This is an anthology of letters, speeches, and holdings by one of the most prominent U.S. Supreme Court Justices, Oliver Wendell Holmes. The volume includes an extensive introduction by Richard Posner, a leading contemporary authority on pragmatist jurisprudence, who spells out why the legacy of Holmes remains relevant for out time.

Putnam, Hilary (1995). Pragmatism: An Open Question. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

In this book, Hilary Putnam confronts the teachings of James, Peirce, Dewey, and Wittgenstein –not solely out of an interest in theoretical questions, but above all to respond to the questions of whether it is possible to find an alternative to corrosive moral skepticism, on the one hand, and to moral authoritarianism on the other.

Putnam, Hilary (1999). Words and Life. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

The book sorts out what is obsolete and what is enduring in the ways philosophical problems have been posed over the course of time. While various supposedly timeless philosophical problems appear to be dated now, there is much of permanent value in the writings of Aristotle, Peirce, Dewey, and Reichenbach. A unifying theme of the volume is that reductionism, scientism, and old-style disenchanted naturalism tend to impede philosophical progress.

Putnam, Hilary (1999). The Threefold Cord: Mind, Body and World. New York: Columbia University Press.

Based on his Hilary Putnam’s Dewey Lectures at Columbia University, and his Royce Lectures given at Brown, this book offers a synthesis of Putnam’s work developed over the course several decades and reflecting his systematic effort to frame contemporary epistemology and philosophy of mind in the pragmatist perspective. The Threefold Cord pays homage to the later Wittgenstein, whose philosophical investigations reveal an affinity to pragmatist thought.

Putnam, Hilary (2004). The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

In this book, Hilary Putnam acknowledges the usefulness of the fact/value distinction but denies that anything metaphysical follows from it. Taking a position that knowledge of facts presupposes knowledge of values, the author grounds his argument in Amartya Sen's discussions of non-self interested human motives and of "capabilities" people rationally value and enjoy freely exercising. The book focuses on imperative logic, the tension between economics and ethics, and preference theory.

Rorty, Richard. (1989). Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity is a signature work of Richard Rorty, a leading exponent of pragmatism in contemporary philosophy. Drawing on Nietzsche, Freud, and Wittgenstein, the author argues that a liberal society cannot be grounded in any metaphysical considerations regarding human nature but must derive its strength from certain attitudes fostered by great literature, such as non-cruelty, solidarity, and the ironic sense of contingency.

Rorty, Richard (1982). Consequences of Pragmatism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

The Consequences of Pragmatism, an early work of Richard Rorty, documents the evolution of his thought from analytical philosophy toward pragmatism. The author acknowledges his debt to John Dewey, whose anti-foundationalism underlies Rorty’s epistemology and whose liberal sensibilities inform Rorty’s perspective on democracy.

Rorty, Richard. (2000). Philosophy and Social Hope. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Penguin.

Since Plato philosophers have aimed at true reality hidden behind appearances. Against this tradition, Richard Rorty argues, pragmatism offers a new philosophy of hope. The book traces the evolution of Rorty’s thought from Plato towards William James and John Dewey, culminating in his own version of pragmatism. What ultimately matters, Rorty suggests, is not whether our ideas correspond to some fundamental reality but whether they help us carry out practical tasks and create a fairer and more democratic society.

Rorty, Richard and Eduardo Mendieta (2005). Take Care of Freedom And Truth Will Take Care of Itself: Interviews With Richard Rorty. Stanford University Press .

This volume collects interviews with Richard Rorty, spanning more than two decades of his public intellectual commentary, engagement, and criticism. In colloquial language, Rorty discusses the relevance and nonrelevance of philosophy to American political and public life. The collection also provides a candid set of insights into Rorty's political beliefs and his commitment to the labor and union traditions in this country.

Habermas, Pragmatism, and Critical Theory. Special Issue of Symbolic Interaction. Edited by D. Shalin, 1992, Vol. 15.

The essays collected in this special journal issue examine the ingenuous ways in which Jurgen Habermas appropriates American pragmatism in his theory of communicative action. The authors are sympathetic to Habermas’s attempt to develop reconstructive social theory based on ideas of Mead, Dewey and Peirce, while at the same time critical of the fact that he neglects the role of the body and emotion in social interaction.

Self in Crisis: Identity and Postmodern Condition. Special Issue of Symbolic Interaction. Edited by D. Shalin, 1993, Vol. 16.

This special journal issue on pragmatism and self-identity offers a critical look at the postmodernist perspective on the human self. Having examined the claim that the reality of human self must be questioned in the media-driven world, the authors present the pragmatist alternative to postmodernist thought. In particular, they argue that while self-identity has grown increasingly fragmented in information-based societies, it never lost its emotional substance and corporeal reality.

Shalin, Dmitri. 1988 “G. H. Mead, Socialism, and the Progressive Agenda.” American Journal of Sociology 92:913-951.

This paper examines Mead's political beliefs and his theory of the reform process. Drawing on little-known sources and archival materials, it demonstrates that Mead shared socialism's humanitarian ends and that, following the dominant progressive ideology of his time, he sought to accomplish these ends by constitutional means. An argument is made that Mead’s ideological commitments had profound effects on his substantive ideas, particularly on the dialectical premises of social interactionism.

Shalin, Dmitri. 1993 “Modernity, Postmodernism, and Pragmatist Inquiry: An Introduction,” Symbolic Interaction 15:303-332.

This essay traces the similarities and differences between the pragmatist and postmodernist projects. It focuses on the contrasting perspectives on human selfhood, understood as a discursive fiction in the postmodernist theory and as an emotionally charged embodied phenomenon in pragmatism. An argument is made that symbolic interactionism is at the crossroads, that we may witness deepening divisions within the ranks of interactionist sociologists in years to come, and that each side in the emerging debate should make effort to learn from the other.

Shalin, Dmitri. 2000 “George Herbert Mead,” pp. 302-344 in The Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists, Introduced and edited by George Ritzer, Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.

This essay explores the interfaces between Mead’s philosophical and sociological thought, his effort to combine academic pursuits with political engagement, and the impact his work has had on social theory. The discussion draws on Mead’s publications, as well as his unpublished papers and correspondence gathered in the Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago. The focus is on Mead's principal contention that the individual and society are mutually constitutive, that mind is the subjective being of society while society is the objectified activity of mind.