Pragmatist and American Philosophical Perspectives on Resilience

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The essays in Pragmatist and American Philosophical Perspectives on Resilience offer a survey of the ways that resilience is becoming a key concept for understanding our world, as well as providing deeper insight about its specific actual and proposed applications. From climate change preparedness to mental health, resilience has recently emerged as a central focus of a variety of disciplines grounded in theoretical approaches as disparate as environmental philosophy, psychology, safety engineering, political science, and urban planning. As an emerging concept with multiple theoretical and practical meanings, resilience promises considerable explanatory power. At the same time, current uses of the concept can be diverse and at times inconsistent. The American philosophical tradition provides tools uniquely suited for clarifying, extending, and applying emerging concepts in more effective and suggestive ways. From cultural figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Wendell Berry to philosophers such as Jane Addams and William James, this collection explores the usefulness of theoretical work in American philosophy and pragmatism to practices in ecology, community, rurality, and psychology.

Reviews

As species disappear, forests burn, and the climate changes, the quest for resilience has morphed from desirable pursuit to existential struggle. This winning collection is not only a plea to think more deeply about the foundations of our policy goals and community practices; it fittingly also demonstrates the hardiness of the American pragmatist tradition in an era increasingly defined by novel environmental and social challenges. And it shows that, unlike with our forests, farms, and waters, we're still a long way from exhausting our philosophical resources.--Ben Minteer, Arizona State University

--Ben Minteer

Author Bio

Kelly A. Parker is professor of philosophy, environmental studies, and integrative studies at Grand Valley State University. Heather Keith is executive director of faculty development and professor of philosophy at Radford University.