A Community of Inquiry: Conversations Between Classical American Philosophy and American Literature

by Dooley, Patrick K.

• ISBN13: 9780873389150
• ISBN10: 0873389158
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-30
• Publisher: Kent State Univ Pr

Summary

Recently and increasingly, literary and philosophical scholars are subscribing to the view that philosophy and literature are allies. However, nearly all of these scholars have concentrated on analyses of Greek philosophers and dramatists as well as English novels and novelists with reference to the nature of a good society and a moral life. The essays presented in A Community of Inquiry explore often-neglected works: classical American philosophy, especially pragmatism, and American literature, particularly the realists and naturalists, and mostly ignored fundamental issues of epistemology and metaphysics. This interdisciplinary study examines the connections between American philosophy and literature, demonstrating how a cluster of elements normally identified as the signature components of classical American philosophy are prominent in the canonical works of American literature. The subjects discussed range from Stephen Crane's metaphysics to business ethics in William Dean Howells, pragmatic religion in Willa Cather and Harold Frederic, John Steinbeck's philosophy of work, and Norman Maclean's philosophy of community. Dooley is uniquely qualified to handle this study of the interactions and intersections of philosophical thinking and literary writing. His philosophical background and analytical rigor provide a new perspective on the authors and subjects discussed in A Community of Inquiry, making this book appealing to those interested in American literary, intellectual, historical, and/or philosophical studies.

Table of Contents

Foreword
The Philosophical Climate in Turn-of-the-(Last)-Century America	p. 1
Stephen Crane: Metaphysical, Epistemological, and Ethical Pluralism
Spectators and/or Participants: Crane on Epistemological Privilege"	p. 15
"In the Depths of a Coal Mine": Crane's Metaphysics of Experience	p. 24
Ethical Tolerance and Sociological Savvy: Crane's Travels in Mexico	p. 33
"Matters of Conscience" and "Blunders of Virtue": Crane on the Varieties of Heroism, or Why Moral Philosophers Need Literature	p. 42
Human Solidarity in an Indifferent Universe: Crane's Humanism	p. 55
William Dean Howells and Harold Frederic: Ethical and Religious Pragmatism
Nineteenth-Century Business Ethics and The Rise of Silas Lapham	p. 67
Howells's Ethical Exegesis in The Rise of Silas Lapham	p. 85
Fakes and Good Frauds: Pragmatic Religion in The Damnation of Theron Ware	p. 104
William James, 'Theodore Roosevelt, Jack London, and Frank Norris: Heroism and the Strenuous Mood
Public Policy and Philosophical Critique: The James-and-Roosevelt Dialogue on Strenuousness	p. 121
The Strenuous Mood: London's The Sea- Wolf and James on Saints and Strongmen	p. 136
London's "South of the Slot" and James's "The Divided Self"	p. 149
Muscular and Moral Heroism in Norris's A Man's Woman	p. 162
Willa Cather, John Steinbeck, and Norman Maclean: Temperament, Memory, Community, and Work
Philosophical Pragmatism and Theological Temperament: 'The Religious and the Miraculous in Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop	p. 181
Cather's Phenomenology of Memory and James's "Specious Present"	p. 192
Tools, Work, and Machines in Cather's One of Ours	p. 202
Creating Community: Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Royce's Philosophy of Loyalty	p. 214
Human Dignity, Work, the Need for Community, and "the Duty of the Writer to Lift Up:" Steinbeck's Philosophy of Work	p. 222
Work, Friendship, and Community in Maclean's The River Runs Through It	p. 233
Suggestions for Further Reading and American Philosophy
Critical Edition Projects	p. 247
Index	p. 251
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