Philosophy Americana: Making Philosophy at Home in American Culture

American Philosophy

by Douglas R. Anderson

In this engaging book, Douglas Anderson begins with the assumption that philosophy—the Greek love of wisdom—is alive and well in American culture. At the same time, professional philosophy remains relatively invisible.

Anderson traverses American life to find places in the wider culture where professional philosophy in the distinctively American tradition can strike up a conversation. How might American philosophers talk to us about our religious experience, or political engagement, or literature—or even, popular music?

Anderson’s second aim is to find places where philosophy happens in nonprofessional guises—cultural places such as country music, rock’n roll, and Beat literature. He not only enlarges the tradition of American philosophers such as John Dewey and William James by examining lesser-known figures such as Henry Bugbee and Thomas Davidson, but finds the theme and ideas of American philosophy in some unexpected places, such as the music of Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, and Bruce Springsteen, and the writings
of Jack Kerouac.

The idea of “philosophy Americana” trades on the emergent genre of “music Americana,” rooted in traditional themes and styles yet engaging our present experiences. The music is “popular” but not thoroughly driven by economic considerations, and Anderson seeks out an analogous role for philosophical practice, where philosophy and popular culture are co-adventurers in the life of ideas. Philosophy Americana takes seriously Emerson’s quest for the extraordinary in the ordinary and James’s belief that popular philosophy can still be philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Other authors publishing under this name are:

Douglas R. Anderson, Ophthalmologist

Reviews

[Daniel Campos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoughtful exploration of the experiential and experimental bent of the American philosophical tradition through music, literature and popular culture. Personal experience and philosophical reflection illuminate each other throughout the essays.

[Andy Febrico Bintoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

American philosopher

Well, the author argue that American was very little in acknowledging philosophy. American philosopher thus usually a teacher, and their philosophy works was in the form of lecture and lecture book. Thus it posed some difficulty to analyzed and record it.