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

I teach a course on William James at John F. Kennedy University, and one of my students came across this fine book and told me about it. Going forward I'm going to be using parts of it for my course. Professor Wilshire has given us a lively, well-informed study of the indigenous-experiential-ecological base within the thought of James, Dewey, Hocking, Bugbee, and other seminal and often-neglected American philosophers. The book's Foreword was provided by Ed Casey, who has written so much and so deeply about the experience of place, particularly in Western culture.I love quotable books. Read this, in relation to the ongoing scientistic attack on contact with the world: "There is no mirror-lined mental domain in which we can sequester ourselves" (p. 55). Or this: "We do not float in the blue surveying the universe. We are humans sunk over our heads in the thingy and messy world" (p. 81). And a favorite, which I plan to use in my ecopsych course: "It is not merely the blueness of the sky that can possess us if we dilate to it. It is also animals and plants--those with great regenerative powers like snakes, or sage or red willow bark, or roots that regenerate themselves and grow in the dark" (p. 85).With another reviewer of this book I would like to have heard more about native traditions other than Black Elk's, particularly the influence those found in the places where thinkers like James and Dewey worked and lived. Also, it would be nice to take a break from the customary transpersonalist equation of Native with experiential and hear more about other aspects of Native culture in terms of how they impacted American philosophy. The motif of reanimation is a key one in James' life and also in various Navajo customs, but I don't know of any direct influence and would like to.Someone (Mencken?) once defined a professional philosopher as a person who upon hearing the statement "the sky is blue today" will ask you what you mean by "sky," by "blue," and by "today." Professor Wilshire's book is a refreshing and urgently needed departure from this kind of bloodless, abstractified, intellectual one-upmanship. He leads the reader along a trail of ideas difficult to take leave of even when the book ends.

Bruce Wilshire continues on a fearless path beyond traditional philosophical abstractions and what passes for "common sense" in our culture in order to open up new vistas on reality and the renewal of the spirit. This book takes the reader step by step into a deepening sense of how energies of the cosmos flow through our knowing bodies towards a new vision of existence that resonates with what Wilshire calls "primal philosophy," the mythic, and modern physics. Along the way, the reader is treated with a rereading of American philosophy, especially the work of William James, John Dewey and Charles Pierce, that uncovers the radical energies in their writing and a connection with the philosophical wisdom of Native American tribal groups, other indigenous peoples and the power of the natural landscape. The reader will learn about aspects of American philosophy that are not usually covered, such as Dewey's poetry, Pierce's struggle with his profession or James' inner demons in a way that reveals new dimensions of their thought. Wilshire's book also makes us reconsider the restrictive role of education and of professionals, such as medical practitioners, scientific researchers and philosophy professors in casting our sense of who we are and can be. As his vision develops throughout the book with his repeated consideration of Black Elk's pivotal cure, the reader finds himself or herself in the midst of energy flows and depths of archetypal significance that can liberate us from addictions and our despair over aging, losses, and the death of those we love. Some figures who have been under-appreciated, such as William Earnest Hocking or Henry Bugbee, as well as those who have perhaps been over-appreciated, such as Richard Rorty, are seen in a new light. Other writers, who have been taken to be central to American Letters, Thoreau and Emerson, but who have not been properly appreciated for their philosophical depth are articulated by Wilshire as our key philosophical thinkers. Two major accomplishments of this book are to embody the sense of spirit and to place American philosophy in a different context. Spirit becomes a fleshly phenomenon of the entire Earth communicated among its members in rhythm and song. Wilshire is particularly adept at considering the body-self, as he calls it, in its visceral and passionate engagement. Surprises abound, once American philosophy is no longer seen as a poor relative of European philosophy, but is the unique voice of the power of the Earth and of indigenous peoples coming together with these newer peoples who came to settle this continent. American feminism can be seen in its inspiration from matrilineal Native American traditions, and the shaman is the figure to call us home to kinship with the Earth and its creatures, not the solitary reflective thinker. Philosophy returns to awe and resonance. The books ends with an amazing essay about the spiritual significance of the death of the author's gifted daughter and the energies that may persist beyond this ultimate boundary. We follow Wilshire into an unfathomable depth and find physics and Earth-centered spirituality agreed on welcoming the Unlocatable and the Unsayable.