Southern Illinois University Press A Contextualistic Worldview

This selection of articles by Lewis E. Hahn addresses the philosophical school of contextualism and four contemporary American philosophers: John Dewey, Henry Nelson Wieman, Stephen C. Pepper, and Brand Blanshard. Stressing the relatively recent contextualistic worldview, which he considers one of the best world hypotheses, Hahn seeks to achieve a broad perspective within which all things may be given their due place. After providing a brief outline, Hahn explains contextualism in relation to other philosophies. In his opening chapter, as in later chapters, he expresses contextualism as a form of pragmatic naturalism. In spite of Hahn's high regard for contextualism, however, he does not think it would be good if we were limited to a single worldview. ""The more different views we have and the more different sources of possible light we have, the better our chances that some of these cosmic maps will shed light on our world and our place in it. Review These essays were written over an extensive time period, and they have the salutary effect of bringing back significant thoughts and thinkers to our attention. I refer to the essays on Brand Blanshard and Stephen Pepper. A strength of Hahn's approach is his capacity for a lucid, cogent, and direct exposition of others' philosophical views. Consequently, this book of essays contains a cameo history of key developments and positions in speculative philosophy over the last half century.-John J. McDermott, Texas A&M University About the Author Lewis E. Hahn is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he currently is editor of the Library of Living Philosophers. He has published numerous books and articles over the past sixty years. Among his books are A Contextualistic Theory of Perception, The Elements of Logic (with Cecil H. Miller), and Value: A Cooperative Inquiry (with Ray Lepley, John Dewey, and others).