Pragmatist Neurophilosophy: American Philosophy and the Brain

Pragmatist Neurophilosophy :American Philosophy and the Brainexplains why thebroad tradition ofpragmatism is needed now more than ever. Bringing pragmatist philosophers togetherwith cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists, this volume explores topicsof urgent interest across neuroscience and philosophy from the perspective ofpragmatism. Discussing how Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey, andGeorge Mead benefited from their laboratory-knowledge, contributors treat America'sfirst-generation pragmatists as America's first cognitive scientists. They explainwhy scientists today should participate in pragmatic judgments, just as theclassical pragmatists did, and how current scientists can benefit from their earlierphilosophical explorations across the same territory. Looking at recentneuroscientific discoveries in relation to classical pragmatists, they exploreemerging pragmatic views supported directly from the behavioral and brainsciences and describe how "e;neuropragmatism"e; engages larger cultural questions byadequately dealing with meaningful values and ethical ideals. PragmatistNeurophilosophy is an important contribution to scholars of bothpragmatism and neuroscience and a timely reminder that America's firstgeneration of pragmatists did not stumble onto its principles, but designedthem in light of biology's new discoveries.