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"American Pragmatism: An Introduction" by Albert R. Spencer is a comprehensive exploration of American philosophy and pragmatism. The book examines the different perspectives within American pragmatism, including theories of truth and methods of experience. It covers the contributions of influential figures such as Charles S. Peirce, William James, Jane Addams, John Dewey, George Santayana, W. E. B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, C. I. Lewis, W. V. O. Quine, and Richard Rorty. The book also discusses the potential of pragmatism in engaging with other philosophical traditions, such as Indigenous philosophy and Latinx philosophy. Spencer's approach to American pragmatism is unique, emphasizing the importance of place and recognizing the diverse populations and histories that shape American philosophy. The book offers a valuable resource for those interested in exploring pragmatist philosophy and its relevance in contemporary society. [Extracted from the article]

Toni Morrison suggests that storytelling is a highly effective way of structuring knowledge, and that the harnessing of a clever allegory, the search for well-patterned language is a constant, provocative engagement with the contemporary world. This article considers the ways poetry, imagination, and well-patterned language are utilized in the philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Rorty, and Leonard Harris. The author notes that there are apparent similarities between Rorty and Harris, but one should also notice that there are significant differences in these two philosophical positions. The author ultimately argues that Harris's move toward poetry and well-patterned language is extremely powerful and needed if people wish to move beyond a well-established set of values and norms. Harris prods us to tell thought-provoking, engaging stories—to intricately tuck knowledge into allegory and well-patterned language—but do it without being an apologist for the prevailing bourgeois liberal democratic tradition. In this manner, the harnessing of metaphor and clever allegory, the creative engagement with poetry and well-patterned language (in philosophy) is a provocative means of engaging the oppression, dispossession, and immiseration of the contemporary world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In "Race, Multiculturalism, and Democracy," Robert Gooding-Williams offers an insight. He writes: "Our sense of ourselves and of the possibilities existing for us is, to a significant degree, a function of the descriptions we have available to us to conceptualize our intended actions and prospective lives. . . . 'Hence if new modes of description come into being, new possibilities of action come into being in consequence.'" In this article, I discuss the philosopher's role in the articulation of new descriptions and thus new possibilities. I argue that potential modes of bold and assertive comportment are conjured when new insurrectionist descriptions are articulated within oppressed populations. To bring this to a higher resolution, I discuss the pervasiveness of dialectical conflict, the need to creatively reorient the descriptions of oppressed groups toward liberation, and the need for more than one prescriptive mode of social amelioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines philosopher Leonard Harris' concept of insurrectionist ethics, which supports human liberation from oppression through revolution, as it applies to the thought of philosopher Henry David Thoreau. The author does this as a means to complicate the traditional understanding of American philosophy as entirely concerned with the peaceful expansion of democracy and liberalism. Consideration is given to four features of insurrectionist ethics that can be identified in Thoreau: the defying of the authority and suasionist rhetoric of the U.S. government, a belief in moral action against brutality, the use of representative heuristics in his discussion of African American slavery, and support for such character traits as audacity and irreverence.

The article introduces a symposium found in the issue that deals with topics related to the insurrectionist ethics school of American philosophy, including the work of philosophers Henry David Thoreau, Lydia Maria Child, and David Walker.