Science, Community, and the Transformation of American Philosophy, 1860-1930

Science, Community, and the Transformation of American Philosophy, 1860-1930 PDF Author: Daniel J. Wilson
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 9780226901435
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
A study of American philosophy at the turn of the century. Traces the formation of philosophy as an academic discipline, focusing on two key developments of the period: the philosophers' response to the challenge of science and their effort to create communal theories of truth.

Science, Community, and the Transformation of American Philosophy, 1860-1930

Science, Community, and the Transformation of American Philosophy, 1860-1930 PDF Author: Daniel J. Wilson
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 9780226901435
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
A study of American philosophy at the turn of the century. Traces the formation of philosophy as an academic discipline, focusing on two key developments of the period: the philosophers' response to the challenge of science and their effort to create communal theories of truth.

Science, Democracy, and the American University

Science, Democracy, and the American University PDF Author: Andrew Jewett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139577107
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 567

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Book Description
This book reinterprets the rise of the natural and social sciences as sources of political authority in modern America. Andrew Jewett demonstrates the remarkable persistence of a belief that the scientific enterprise carried with it a set of ethical values capable of grounding a democratic culture - a political function widely assigned to religion. The book traces the shifting formulations of this belief from the creation of the research universities in the Civil War era to the early Cold War years. It examines hundreds of leading scholars who viewed science not merely as a source of technical knowledge, but also as a resource for fostering cultural change. This vision generated surprisingly nuanced portraits of science in the years before the military-industrial complex and has much to teach us today about the relationship between science and democracy.

An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century American Science Writing

An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century American Science Writing PDF Author: C. R. Resetarits
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1783080620
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
This volume is a brief anthology of the most influential writing by American scientists between 1800 and 1900. Arranged thematically and chronologically to highlight the progression of American science throughout the nineteenth century – from its beginnings in self-taught classification and exploration to the movement towards university education and specialization – it is the first collection of its kind. Each section begins with a biography, putting human faces to each time period, and introducing such notable figures as Thomas Jefferson and Louis Agassiz.

Nature in American Philosophy (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, Volume 42)

Nature in American Philosophy (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, Volume 42) PDF Author: Jean De Groot
Publisher: CUA Press
ISBN: 0813213819
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
With its focus on philosophy of nature, this book fills a gap in the ongoing reassessment of nineteenth-century American philosophy, and it opens the way to further study of the role played by reflection on nature in the emergence of the American mind.

The Oxford Handbook of American Philosophy

The Oxford Handbook of American Philosophy PDF Author: Cheryl Misak
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks Online
ISBN: 0199219311
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 657

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Book Description
This is the first collective study of the development of philosophy in America, from the 18th century to the present. Leading experts examine distinctive features of American philosophy, trace notable themes, and consider the legacy of key figures. A fascinating resource for anyone interested in modern philosophy or American intellectual history.

Science and Religion in the Era of William James: Eclipse of certainty, 1820-1880

Science and Religion in the Era of William James: Eclipse of certainty, 1820-1880 PDF Author: Paul Jerome Croce
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 9780807845066
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
In this cultural biography, Paul Croce investigates the contexts surrounding the early intellectual development of American philosopher William James (1842-1910). Croce places the young James at the center of key scientific and religious debates in Americ

E.A. Burtt, Historian and Philosopher

E.A. Burtt, Historian and Philosopher PDF Author: D. Villemaire
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401713316
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Burtt's book, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science, is something of a puzzle within the context of twentieth-century intellectual history, especially American intellectual history. Burtt's pioneering study of the scientific revolution has proved to prophetic in its rejection of both scientism and positivism. Published in 1924, Burtt's book continues to be read in educated circles and remains both the rose and the thorn on university reading lists, raising skeptical questions about science methods and science knowledge just as it did seventy-five years ago. This book examines Burtt's public, academic and personal life. From his politics of conscience after World War I on through the Cold War Burtt is shown to be a man of unparalleled integrity, whose relentless search for philosophic understanding drove his more quixotic philosophical quests and steered his personal life, including its tragic dimension, toward simple virtue. The many who have been affected by The Metaphysical Foundations will be especially interested in this new perspective on the life and thought of its author. Those who have not read Burtt's books might be inspired to study this unusual American thinker.

A Scientist's Voice in American Culture

A Scientist's Voice in American Culture PDF Author: Albert E. Moyer
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520912137
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
In late nineteenth-century America, Simon Newcomb was the nation's most celebrated scientist and—irascibly, doggedly, tirelessly—he made the most of it. Officially a mathematical astronomer heading a government agency, Newcomb spent as much of his life out of the observatory as in it, acting as a spokesman for the nascent but restive scientific community of his time. Newcomb saw the "scientific method" as a potential guide for all disciplines and a basis for all practical action, and argued passionately that it was of as much use in the halls of Congress as in the laboratory. In so doing, he not only sparked popular support for American science but also confronted a wide spectrum of social, cultural, and intellectual issues. This first full-length study of Newcomb traces the development of his faith in science and ranges over topics of great public debate in the Gilded Age, from the reform of economic theory to the recasting of the debate between science and religion. Moyer's portrait of a restless, eager mind also illuminates the bustle of late nineteenth-century America.

The Measure of Merit

The Measure of Merit PDF Author: John Carson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691187673
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
How have modern democracies squared their commitment to equality with their fear that disparities in talent and intelligence might be natural, persistent, and consequential? In this wide-ranging account of American and French understandings of merit, talent, and intelligence over the past two centuries, John Carson tells the fascinating story of how two nations wrestled scientifically with human inequalities and their social and political implications. Surveying a broad array of political tracts, philosophical treatises, scientific works, and journalistic writings, Carson chronicles the gradual embrace of the IQ version of intelligence in the United States, while in France, the birthplace of the modern intelligence test, expert judgment was consistently prized above such quantitative measures. He also reveals the crucial role that determinations of, and contests over, merit have played in both societies--they have helped to organize educational systems, justify racial hierarchies, classify army recruits, and direct individuals onto particular educational and career paths. A contribution to both the history of science and intellectual history, The Measure of Merit illuminates the shadow languages of inequality that have haunted the American and French republics since their inceptions.

William James and the Art of Popular Statement

William James and the Art of Popular Statement PDF Author: Paul Stob
Publisher: MSU Press
ISBN: 162895048X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
At the turn of the twentieth century, no other public intellectual was as celebrated in America as the influential philosopher and psychologist William James. Sought after around the country, James developed his ideas in lecture halls and via essays and books intended for general audiences. Reaching out to and connecting with these audiences was crucial to James—so crucial that in 1903 he identified “popular statement,” or speaking and writing in a way that animated the thought of popular audiences, as the “highest form of art.” Paul Stob’s thought-provoking history traces James’s art of popular statement through pivotal lectures, essays, and books, including his 1878 lectures in Baltimore and Boston, “Talks to Teachers on Psychology,” “The Varieties of Religious Experience,” and “Pragmatism.” The book explores James’s unique approach to public address, which involved crafting lectures in science, religion, and philosophy around ordinary people and their experiences. With democratic bravado, James confronted those who had accumulated power through various systems of academic and professional authority, and argued that intellectual power should be returned to the people. Stob argues that James gave those he addressed a central role in the pursuit of knowledge and fostered in them a new intellectual curiosity unlike few scholars before or since.