Reconstructing Individualism

A Pragmatic Tradition from Emerson to Ellison

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Pragmatism, Political
Cover of the book Reconstructing Individualism by James M. Albrecht, Fordham University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: James M. Albrecht ISBN: 9780823242115
Publisher: Fordham University Press Publication: March 1, 2012
Imprint: American Literatures Initiative Language: English
Author: James M. Albrecht
ISBN: 9780823242115
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Publication: March 1, 2012
Imprint: American Literatures Initiative
Language: English

America has a love–hate relationship with individualism. In Reconstructing Individualism, James Albrecht argues that our conceptions of individualism have remained trapped within the assumptions of classic liberalism. He traces an alternative genealogy of individualist ethics in four major American thinkers—Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, John Dewey, and Ralph Ellison.

These writers’ shared commitments to pluralism (metaphysical and cultural), experimentalism, and a melioristic stance toward value and reform led them to describe the self as inherently relational. Accordingly, they articulate models of selfhood that are socially engaged and ethically responsible, and they argue that a reconceived—or, in Dewey’s term, “reconstructed”—individualism is not merely compatible with but necessary to democratic community. Conceiving selfhood and community as interrelated processes, they call for an ongoing reform of social conditions so as to educate and liberate individuality, and, conversely, they affirm the essential role individuality plays in vitalizing communal efforts at reform.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

America has a love–hate relationship with individualism. In Reconstructing Individualism, James Albrecht argues that our conceptions of individualism have remained trapped within the assumptions of classic liberalism. He traces an alternative genealogy of individualist ethics in four major American thinkers—Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, John Dewey, and Ralph Ellison.

These writers’ shared commitments to pluralism (metaphysical and cultural), experimentalism, and a melioristic stance toward value and reform led them to describe the self as inherently relational. Accordingly, they articulate models of selfhood that are socially engaged and ethically responsible, and they argue that a reconceived—or, in Dewey’s term, “reconstructed”—individualism is not merely compatible with but necessary to democratic community. Conceiving selfhood and community as interrelated processes, they call for an ongoing reform of social conditions so as to educate and liberate individuality, and, conversely, they affirm the essential role individuality plays in vitalizing communal efforts at reform.

More books from Fordham University Press

Cover of the book Messy Eating by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Ending and Unending Agony by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book The John F. Sonnett Memorial Lectures at Fordham University School of Law by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Being Brains by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Receptive Spirit by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Law and Revolution in South Africa by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book The Human Eros by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Fugitive Rousseau by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book The Creative Retrieval of Saint Thomas Aquinas by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book The Noetics of Nature by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Communications Research in Action by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book The Seeds of Things by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book The God Who Deconstructs Himself by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Quiet Powers of the Possible by James M. Albrecht
Cover of the book Queer as Camp by James M. Albrecht
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy