The Primal Roots of American Philosophy: Pragmatism, Phenomenology, and Native American Thought

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The Primal Roots of American Philosophy GENERAL EDITORS: CHARLES E. SCOTT AND JOHN J. STUHR ASSOCIATE EDITOR: SUSAN M. SCHOENBOHM Devoted to the contemporary development of American and European philosophy in the pragmatic and Continental traditions, AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY gives expression to uniquely American thought that deepens and advances these traditions and that arises from their mutual encounters. The series will focus on new interpretations of philosophers and philosophical movements within these traditions , original contributions to European or American thought, and issues that arise through the mutual influence of American and European philosophers. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MITCHELL ABOULAFIA, University of Colorado • BETTINA BERGO, Worcester Polytechnic Institute • ROBERT BERNASCONI, University of Memphis • JUDITH BUTLER, University of California at Berkeley • EDWARD CASEY, SUNY at Stony Brook • VINCENT COLAPIETRO, The Pennsylvania State University • DAN CONWAY, The Pennsylvania State University • SIMON CRITCHLEY,UniversityofEssex•FRANÇOISEDASTUR,UniversitédeParisXII • PAUL DAVIES, University of Sussex • MIGUEL DE BEISTEGUI, University of Warwick • GÜNTER FIGAL, Universität Tübingen (Eberhard-Karls-Universität) • RUSSELLGOODMAN,UniversityofNewMexico•DAVIDHOY,CowellCollege •DOMINIQUEJANICAUD,UniversitédeNice•MARKJOHNSON,University of Oregon • DAVID FARRELL KRELL, DePaul University • JOHN LACHS, Vanderbilt University • LADELLE MCWHORTER, University of Richmond • KRZYSZTOF MICHALSKI, Boston University • JEAN-LUC NANCY, Université de Strasbourg 11 (Université des Sciences Humaines) • KELLY OLIVER, SUNY at Stony Brook • STEFAN GEORGIEV POPOV, University of Sofia • SANDRA ROSENTHAL, Loyola University • HANS RUIN, Stockholm University • DENNIS SCHMIDT, Villanova University • CHARLENE SEIGFRIED, Purdue University LAEB • SHANNON SULLIVAN, The Pennsylvania State University • JOHN SALLIS, The Pennsylvania State University • RICHARD SHUSTERMAN, Temple University • KENNETH STIKKERS, Southern Illinois University • GIANTERESIO VATTIMO, Università degli Studi di Torino • FRANCO VOLPI, Università degli Studi di Padova • DAVID WOOD, Vanderbilt University David Farrell Krell, The Purest of Bastards: Works of Mourning, Art, and Affirmation in the Thought of Jacques Derrida Bruce Wilshire, The Primal Roots of American Philosophy: Pragmatism, Phenomenology , and Native American Thought Bruce Wilshire The Primal Roots of American Philosophy Pragmatism, Phenomenology, and Native American Thought The Pennsylvania State University Press University Park, Pennsylvania Versions of several chapters were previously published in the following journals and collections : Chapter 3: “William James, Black Elk, and the Healing Act,” in Pragmatic Bioethics, ed. Glenn McGee (Vanderbilt University Press, 1999); Chapter 6: “John Dewey’s View on the Subconscious: Difficulties in the Reconstruction of Culture,” in Philosophy and the Reconstruction of Culture: Pragmatic Essays After Dewey, ed. John Stuhr (SUNY Press, 1993); Chapter 8: “Passion for Meaning: W. E. Hocking’s ReligiousPhilosophical Views,” Transactions of the C. S. Peirce Society 33 (Fall 1997); Chapter 11: “Pragmatism, Neopragmatism, and Phenomenology: The Richard Rorty Phenomenon,” Human Studies 20 (1997). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wilshire, Bruce W. The primal roots of American philosophy : pragmatism, phenomenology, and Native American thought / Bruce Wilshire. p. cm. — (American and European philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-271-02025-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-271-02026-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Philosophy, American—19th century. 2. Philosophy, American—20th century. I. Title. II. Series. B893 .W55 2000 191—dc21 99-047237 Copyright © 2000 The Pennsylvania State University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA 16802-1003 It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper for the first printing of all clothbound books. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. For my brothers Leland and Daniel The very conception of a beginning of conscious life carries with it a paradoxical reference to something prior to that beginning. . . . As we examine our own duration in time . . . we can find no wall of partition between self and prior-toself . I never know by introspection how old I am, or that I have a finite age. If the impulse which is I is a “racial impulse,” there is no reason to ascribe age to it: it is presumably, like energy, always new as on the first day. —W. E. Hocking, The Self: Its Body and Freedom ...