Research Interests
⛬ The relationship between Pragmatism and Embodied Cognitive Science
⛬ Pragmatism (especially the works of FCS Schiller and William James)
⛬ Pragmatic approaches to Philosophy of Language and Logic
⛬ Cognitive Science as motivated by perennial existential questions of humanity, value, and meaning
⛬ The relationship between Pragmatism and Embodied Cognitive Science
⛬ Pragmatism (especially the works of FCS Schiller and William James)
⛬ Pragmatic approaches to Philosophy of Language and Logic
⛬ Cognitive Science as motivated by perennial existential questions of humanity, value, and meaning
Current Projects
WORKS IN PROGRESS
“Except for Truth: The Pragmatist Epistemology of Karl Popper” (paper/conference presentation)
“Popper’s Philosophy of Language” (paper)
MONOGRAPHS IN PREPARATION (ONGOING)
“The Nature of Human Truths: The Pragmatism of FCS Schiller”
MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION
New edition of Formal Logic (1912) by F.C.S. Schiller, with an introduction and notes
New edition of Logic for Use (1929) by F.C.S. Schiller, with an introduction and notes
New edition of On Nature (1874) by J.S. Mill, with an introduction and notes
WORKS IN PROGRESS
“Except for Truth: The Pragmatist Epistemology of Karl Popper” (paper/conference presentation)
“Popper’s Philosophy of Language” (paper)
- Outlines the approach to language, meaning, definitions, linguistic analysis, and linguistic disputes enunciated by Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994), with an emphasis on the differences between Popper and the positivists.
- Outlines the comprehensive philosophy of language formulated by F.C.S. Schiller (1864-1937), with a particular emphasis on propositions, meaning, and truth.
- Drawing from the work of F.C.S. Schiller (1864-1937), I offer a new approach to resolving the Liar paradox that views each step in the interpretation of the as an interpretive choice on the part of the logician, each of which requires a reasonable explanation. This approach views paradox as a conscious choice, generated by stipulation, rather than a unavoidable feature of language.
- G.E. Moore asserted in 1902, falsely, that when pragmatists say “all truths work” they mean “all that works is true.” Pragmatism has been continually mischaracterized as a philosophical method of crass expedience, leading to reductive analytic definitions such as p is true iff p is useful and p is true iff p works. Not only are such proposed definitions untrue and misleading, they have in turn facilitated further claims, usually offered as clever counterexamples to Pragmatism, to the effect that “if the pragmatic theory of truth were correct, then lies could be true because lies are often useful.” But again, this is not at all what the pragmatic theory of truth proposes, and it never has. Pragmatism readily (and fundamentally) distinguishes between truths and non-truths, whether those non-truths are idealizations, fictions, or lies. And though William James and F.C.S. Schiller dealt handily with such rumors throughout their careers, most of what they wrote in this regard went unduly ignored by their critics. Whether you are a layperson put off by the colloquial use of pragmatic or a trained philosopher repeating what they learned in graduate seminars about what pragmatists supposedly claim, Pragmatism is very likely not what you think it is. In this paper, I intend to set the record straight about classical Pragmatism and its conception of truth.
MONOGRAPHS IN PREPARATION (ONGOING)
“The Nature of Human Truths: The Pragmatism of FCS Schiller”
- This volume introduces the Pragmatism of F.C.S. Schiller (I), with chapters on his approach to metaphysics (II) and truth (III), and then offers a chapter that answers common objections to the pragmatic theory of truth (IV).
- This volume explains the comprehensive critique of classical syllogistic logic and modern symbolic logic put forward by F.C.S. Schiller (1864-1937) in his Formal Logic (1912), as well as portions of his Logic For Use (1929) and a selection of his published papers, articles, and essays, many of which are responses to his critics. Schiller strikes at the base of the formal-logical tree, showing how a proper understanding of reasoning, language, meaning, and truth precludes much of how logic is practiced and understood. In addition to the critique, I will also offer a positive proposal for an approach to logic as it relates to the cognitive domain. This proposal will draw heavily on Schiller’s own vision of what he called a personalist logic, i.e. a logic that comports with “actual human thinking,” that is, with how humans practically gain, test, and refine their knowledge.
- A relatively brief treatise on the traditional problem of free will versus determinism that compiles a new approach to concepts such as free will, determinism, choice, causation, and responsibility.
- This volume is a commentary of an early essay of Nietzsche entitled On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense (1873) through the lens of embodied cognitive science.
- This volume is a section-by-section critical commentary on A.J. Ayer’s 1936 classic Language, Truth and Logic that emphasizes the commonalities and contrasts between the moderate logical positivism expressed by Ayer and the classical pragmatism enunciated by F.C.S. Schiller.
MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION
New edition of Formal Logic (1912) by F.C.S. Schiller, with an introduction and notes
New edition of Logic for Use (1929) by F.C.S. Schiller, with an introduction and notes
New edition of On Nature (1874) by J.S. Mill, with an introduction and notes