| Continuing
his quest to bring American philosophy back to its roots, Bruce Wilshire
connects the work of such thinkers as Thoreau, Emerson, Dewey, and
James with Native American beliefs and practices. His search is not
for exact parallels, but rather for fundamental affinities between
the equally "organismic" thought systems of indigenous peoples and
classic American philosophers.
Wilshire gives particular emphasis to the affinities between Black
Elk's view of the hoop of the world and Emerson's notion of horizon,
and also between a shaman's healing practices and James's ideas
of pure experience, willingness to believe, and a pluralistic universe.
As these connections come into focus, the book shows how European
phenomenology was inspired and influenced by the classic American
philosophers, whose own work reveals the inspiration and influence
of indigenous thought.
Wilshire's book also reveals how artifical are the walls that separate
the sciences and the humanities in academia, and that separate Continental
from Anglo-American thought within the single discipline of philosophy. |
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