Practicing Philosophy: Pragmatism and the Philosophical Life - Paperback

by Richard Shusterman (Author)

Applying contemporary pragmatism to the crucial question of how philosophy can help us live better, Shusterman develops his distinctive aesthetic model of philosophical living that includes politics, somatics, and ethnicity, while critically engaging the rival views of Dewey, Wittgenstein, and Foucault, as well as Rorty, Putnam, Goodman, Habermas, and Cavell.

Back Jacket

How should the practice of philosophy relate to the project of one's life? Practicing Philosophy examines the idea of the philosophical life as expressed in our century, analyzing its essential dimensions and exploring crucial philosophical issues that arise in them: issues that range from epistemology, ethics, and politics to aesthetics, somatics, and ethnicity. In developing his own conception of the philosophical life, Shusterman critically engages the views of Dewey, Wittgenstein, and Foucalult as well as the current pragmatism of Roty, Putnam, Goodman, Habermas, and Cavell. Practicing Philosophy thus makes its case for philosophical living while providing a useful survey of the rich variety of contemporary pragmatism.

Author Biography

Richard Shusterman is Professor of Philosophy at Temple University and Directeur de Programmes at the College International de Philosophie, Paris. His books include T.S. Eliot and the Philosophy of Criticism (1988), AnalyticAesthetics (1989), Sous l'interpretation (1994), and the much acclaimed and widely translated PragmatistAesthetics (1992).