The Primal Roots of American Philosophy: Pragmatism, Phenomenology, and Native American Thought

American and European Philosophy Series

by Bruce Wilshire, Edward S. Casey (Foreword)

Continuing his quest to bring American philosophy back to its roots, Bruce Wilshire connects the work of such thinkers as Thoreau, Emerson, Dewey, and James with Native American beliefs and practices. His search is not for exact parallels, but rather for fundamental affinities between the equally "organismic" thought systems of indigenous peoples and classic American philosophers. Wilshire gives particular emphasis to the affinities between Black Elk’s view of the hoop of the world and Emerson’s notion of horizon, and also between a shaman’s healing practices and James’s ideas of pure experience, willingness to believe, and a pluralistic universe. As these connections come into focus, the book shows how European phenomenology was inspired and influenced by the classic American philosophers, whose own work reveals the inspiration and influence of indigenous thought. Wilshire’s book also reveals how artificial are the walls that separate the sciences and the humanities in academia, and that separate Continental from Anglo-American thought within the single discipline of philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy

256 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2000

Reviews

[Stentor · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a book about pragmatism and "Native American Thought." This is a book about pragmatism and Black Elk Speaks, as Wilshire seems to think that Native American philosophy begins and ends with a single book. Wilshire's aim is to show that the classical pragmatist philosophers were at root New Age hippies, endorsing the same kind of "primitivist" view of the world that white people have long sought from bowdlerized appropriations of Native culture. I am lucky that I read Pierce, James, and Dewey before Wilshire, as his book would have quickly convinced me there was nothing of value to be found in the earlier thinkers.

[Daniel Campos]

A work of little scholarly or