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Re: [xmca] Fwd: [Sssi-talk] RE: The new issue of the European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy



Hi Greg
Thanks for this treasure chest of FREE articles in the European Journal of
Pragmatism and American Philosophy. You mentioned Eugene Halton's approach
to "talking with" the classical pragmatists as ACTUAL thinking and
communication. I also wanted to recommend reading Patrick Baert's article
[which I attaced in my response to Haydi]  I believe Baert's engagement
linking neo-pragmatism and continental philosophy is in the same spirit as
the Kyoto School linking Buddhism and Continental Philosophy as a
particular TYPE of dialogical inquiry.  CHAT as a European development I
believe could also have a particular type of dialogue with Continental
philosophy in the same spirt as neo-pragmatism and Buddhism.  I believe
these dialogues have the potential to call us into new forms of character
with dispositions less "sovereign" than our current types of personality
development.
Andy mentioned that activity theory has not done elaborated the concept of
personality in the way the ancient Greeks engaged with this topic. I notice
scholars such as Gadamer and Charles Taylor have deeply engaged in
conversations with these Greek philosophers and their "understanding" and
"self-understanding" have been transformed by the encounter.  I seem to be
attracted to the scholars who look to classical Greece for notions of
character and personality.

I'm going to summarize Baert's exploration of Gadamer's relevance to
neo-pragmatism and then add a few extra comments.  The concept of
"effective history" may be relevant to notions of "autobiography" a term I
will further elaborate.  Baert wrote,


"Gadamer argues that any appeal to reason and method also necessarily draws
on tradition and prejudice [reality] and thereby inevitably invokes what
was meant to be eradicated.  However, if  Gadamer claims that tradition and
prejudice are a "sine qua non" for understanding, he does not mean that
understanding is an individual or arbitrary accomplishment.  Mirroring the
pragmatist insistence on the social and historical nature of knowledge
claims, Gadamer treats tradition like a SHARED experience rooted in and
developed within a long historical trajectory. Gadamer coins the term
EFFECTIVE HISTORY (Wirkungsgeschichte) to refer to the way in which
tradition and its history affects us when we try to shed their power."
[p.35]

Baert further elaborates Gadamer's particular type of dialogical engagement
when he writes,

"Gadamer contends that, in the case of genuine understanding", [a
particular TYPE of dialogue in Wittgenstein's sense of language games]
"people are willing to recognize the validity and coherence of what is
being studied to such an extent that this recognition might undermine some
of their own suppositions.  In Gadamer's terminology understanding
eventually leads to "self-formation" or "bildung" the process by which
individuals and communities take on a larger perspective and realize the
FALLIBILITY or parochial nature of beliefs they have hitherto
cherished." (page 35)   In other words this particular type of GENUINE
dialogue within "effective history" transforms personality.  Others suggest
Gadamer is embracing conservative rather than emancipatory philosophy but
the notion of transformation of personality through self-understanding
derived from shared understanding is not conservative.  But does it need to
be a STRUGGLE for recognition. Maybe within the personality structure
formed within modernity BUT in social arrangements of genuine dialogue
maybe a personality type  of "self-emptying" may arise that VALUES genuine
dialogue as a WAY OF LIFE???

Haydi says this type of idealism must RETURN to the STRUGGLE within the
SITE OF REALITY and ideality must descend from the heights of ideality.
>From a Buddhist perspective of "suchness" we can never leave reality but we
can leave genuine dialogue which gives reality its VITALITY or animates
reality [Aristotle's notion of De Anima from which Jung derived his notion
of gendered "anima". From classical Greece, "soul", "psyche" & "anima"
shared a very cose family resemblance and as an abstract concept were not
gendered. Psyche as animating life became gendered in the pantheon of the
gods]

The next section I got off the web when I googled Gadamer & "effective
history"

 When Gadamer speaks of *Wirkungsgeschichte *(“effective history”) he
emphasizes that persons are not fully aware of the extent to which language
shapes and “makes” us.  As Gadamer puts it, “Language is always out in
front of us.”  The same is true of culture, tradition and customs. We see
“effective history” in the various ways in which different communities of
inquiry employ certain analogies, as well as choose (and reject) certain
metaphors etc.  Language, in other words, is PREGNANT with tradition,
culture and in fact opens up a world to us (Heidegger)—a world unlike the
mere “environment” of non-rational animals.

Gadamer does *not *mean that words create reality.  As Charles Taylor, B.
Wachterhauser, Joel Weinsheimer and Robert Sokolowski argue, Gadamer is *not
*a linguistic constructivist.  On Gadamer’s account, both language and
reality PARTICIPATE in intelligibility.  The function of language (at least
one function) is to enhance the intelligibility of the *already* realized
intelligible world. Language functions as a lens that makes reality come
into sharper focus than would be the case if language were absent.  Thus,
language does not stand between us and reality.   Language functions
instead as a “medium” through which we gain access to *the *world—it has a
kind of “iconic” function.  I emphasize *the *world to highlight the fact
that Gadamer IS a realist. Though we no doubt have our horizons, are
conditioned by culture, history and language, we are *not *trapped in our
horizons or imprisoned by our prejudices and thus cut off from the things
themselves.  Gadamer is adamant that as rational, linguistic beings, we are
free to step back, reflect or pause and then proceed by returning  to
reality. It is this pause or stepping back that is critical. But is it
possible in conversation with the OTHER, the LISTENER [as experiencer] can
STEP BACK [self-emptying] rather than it always requiring a self-splitting.
Yes, we need distanciation, and OFTEN this is a STRUGGLE, but is it the
ONLY way to gain distance.  I'm willing to grant it MAY require a UNIVERSAL
self-spitting to aquire self-consciousness but even if this is "true" then
the CONTEXT in which the self-splitting occurs is still fundamental for the
particular TYPE of self-consciousness which emerges.

Greg [and Haydi], this extended reference to Gadamer is my way of
responding to the need to return to reality by saying we never leave
reality but we may leave VITALITY [actuality in Kenichi's tradition]
 This form of "recognition" and Baert's form of "self-understanding" are
not "BOUND by sovereign recognition". They embrace MULTIPLE perspectives
and USE them to express our humanness.

Larry
 On Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 10:39 PM, Greg Thompson
<greg.a.thompson@gmail.com>wrote:

> Seems like there were some folks out there interested in Pragmatism (see
> below). Just glancing through Eugene Halton's contribution - great fun, if
> maybe a bit bold.
> Enjoy
> -greg
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Eugene Halton <Eugene.W.Halton.2@nd.edu>
> Date: Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 6:23 PM
> Subject: [Sssi-talk] RE: The new issue of the European Journal of
> Pragmatism and American Philosophy
> To: "sssi-talk@loy-law.org" <sssi-talk@loy-law.org>
>
>
> Dear list, ****
>
>            The new issue of the European Journal of Pragmatism and
> American Philosophy (Volume 3, Number 2, 2011) is now available online as
> of today. http://lnx.journalofpragmatism.eu/ ****
>
> ** **
>
>            I am listing the table of contents below. It involves symposia
> on “Pragmatism and the Social Sciences: A Century of Influences and
> Interactions,” as well as one dealing with Richard Bernstein's recent book
> The Pragmatic Turn. Plus other essays.****
>
> ** **
>
>            My contribution, "Pragmatic E-Pistols," involves previously
> unpublished, unknown, and unarchived pragmatist letters (I say this merely
> as a humorous tease to archivalists out there), among other things.
> http://lnx.journalofpragmatism.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/halton.pdf****
>
> ** **
>
> Cheers, ****
>
> Gene Halton****
>
> ** **
>
> European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy (Volume 3, Number 2,
> 2011). ****
>
> ** **
>
> Guest editors: Roberto Frega (IEA Paris), Filipe Carreira da Silva
> (University of Lisbon)****
>
> ** **
>
> Roberto Frega, Filipe Carreira da Silva, Editor’s Introduction to The
> Symposia (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Section I. Pragmatism and the Margins of Mainstream Social Sciences****
>
> ** **
>
> Peter Manicas, American Social Science: The Irrelevance of Pragmatism
> (pdf)*
> ***
>
> ** **
>
> Patrick Baert, Neo-Pragmatism and Phenomenology: A Proposal (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Eugene Halton, Pragmatic E-Pistols (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Section II. Empowering the Margins of Society****
>
> ** **
>
> Susan Haack, Pragmatism, Law, and Morality: The Lessons of Buck v. Bell
> (pdf
> )****
>
> ** **
>
> Patricia Hill Collins, Piecing Together a Genealogical Puzzle:
> Intersectionality and American Pragmatism (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Bill E. Lawson, Of President Barack H. Obama and Others: Public Policy,
> Race-talk, and Pragmatism (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Section III. Pragmatist Appropriations****
>
> ** **
>
> Mitchell Aboulafia, Through the Eyes of Mad Men: Simulation, Interaction,
> and Ethics (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Louis Quéré, Towards a social externalism: Pragmatism and ethnomethodology
> (
> pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> James Johnson, Between Political Inquiry and Democratic Faith: A Pragmatist
> Approach to Visualizing Publics (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Kenneth W. Stikkers, Dewey, Economic Democracy, and the Mondragon
> Cooperatives (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> David H. Brendel, Can Patients and Psychiatrists be Friends?: a Pragmatist
> Viewpoint (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> A Symposium on Richard Bernstein’s The Pragmatic Turn, Polity Press,
> Cambridge, 2010****
>
> ** **
>
> Organiser: Roberto Frega (IEA Paris)****
>
> Roberto Frega, Richard Bernstein and the challenges of a broadened
> pragmatism (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> James R. O’Shea, Objective Truth and the Practice Relativity of
> Justification in the Pragmatic Turn (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Ramón del Castillo, A Pragmatic Party. On Richard Bernstein’s The Pragmatic
> Turn (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Sarin Marchetti, Richard J. Bernstein on Ethics and Philosophy between the
> Linguistic and the Pragmatic Turn (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Richard Bernstein, Continuing the Conversation (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Essays****
>
> David Ludwig, Beyond Physicalism and Dualism? Putnam’s Pragmatic Pluralism
> and the Philosophy of Mind (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Vitaly Kiryushchenko, Logic, Ethics and Aesthetics: Some Consequences of
> Kant’s Critiques in Peirce’s Early Pragmatism (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Giovanni Tuzet, Legal Judgment as a Philosophical Archetype: A Pragmatist
> Analysis of Three Theses (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Book Review****
>
> Rosa M. Calcaterra, New Perspectives on Pragmatism and Analytic Philosophy,
> Rodopi,   Amsterdam-Ney York, 2001, by Anna Boncompagni (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> Filipe Carreira da Silva, Mead and Modernity. Science, Selfhood and
> Democratic Politics, Lanham MD: Lexington Books 2008. By Anna M. Nieddu
> (pdf
> )****
>
> ** **
>
> George Herbert Mead, The Philosophy of Education, Paradigm Publishers,
> 2008, edited and introduced by Gert Biesta and Daniel Tröhler. By Filipe
> Carreira da Silva. (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> J. R. Shook and J. A. Good, John Dewey’s Philosophy of Spirit, with the
> 1897 Lecture on Hegel, Fordham University Press, New York 2010, pp. 197, by
> Roberto Gronda. (pdf)****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sssi-talk mailing list
> Sssi-talk@loy-law.org
> http://lists.loy-law.org/mailman/listinfo/sssi-talk
>
>
>
>
> --
> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> Sanford I. Berman Post-Doctoral Scholar
> Department of Communication
> University of California, San Diego
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