The myth of Prometheus has inspired countless generations of humanists throughout the ages. This collection of essays includes the Promethean myth and its relationship to the philosophy of love. It is explored from its origins in Ancient Greece, to its similarities and contrasts with the figure of Christ. -- Worldcat Summary.

In lieu of an abstract, here is the article's first paragraph: The American author Henry David Thoreau is best known for his magnum opus Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854); second to this in popularity is his essay, “Resistance to Civil Government” (1849), which was later republished posthumously as “Civil Disobedience” (1866). His fame largely rests on his role as a literary figure exploring the wilds of the natural world, not as a philosopher.

In lieu of an abstract, here are the editorial's first two paragraphs: One of the most quoted phrases in current popular culture is “six degrees of separation.” It expresses the idea that, on average, any human being is connected with any other human being by at most six acquaintances. While there is much debate as to whether this is literally true, it is an interesting thought-experiment, as well as the basis for many fun parlor games. One of these is entitled (...) ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’, in which film fans try to connect the aforementioned actor with any other movie star with as few links as possible. I have been thinking of launching a similar parlor game called ‘Six Degrees of Bertrand Russell’, in which any figure from the past 200 years or so could be connected with Russell in as few steps as possible. Why Russell rather than, say, Ludwig Wittgenstein (who after all had a stated interest in games)? For two reasons: first, Russell lived to the ripe old age of ninety-seven, and thus had the time to interact with a wide variety of people; and second, he was for most of that long life a celebrity, who rubbed elbows with all manner of individuals, many of whom were either celebrities themselves at the time or came to be celebrated later. Russell’s list of acquaintances stretched from Lenin (V.I.) to Lennon (John), from the Bloomsbury Set of the 1920s to the Doomsday Prophets of the 1960s, from William Gladstone to Harold Wilson. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is the chapter's first paragraph: In 2004 I became a professor of philosophy at St. John Fisher College, a small liberal arts institution in the Rochester, New York founded in 1949 by a Catholic religious order called the Congregation of St. Basil (CSB). Some years after joining the college, while working on a project with Diane Lucas, our then-campus archivist, I was startled when she mentioned to me in passing that Marshall McLuhan’s daughter Stephanie (...) had been doing research in our archives on her father’s work. Marshall McLuhan?! I was astonished to hear that name mentioned, as it had been years since I had thought about the communications guru who had coined the phrases "the global village” and "the medium is the message". More to the point, what possible connection did he have with St. John Fisher College? To my astonishment, Diane told me that McLuhan had been a faculty member at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, which was run by the Congregation of St. Basil, the same order of priests which had also started St. John Fisher College. McLuhan, it turned out, had been on close personal terms with the founding fathers of the college, many of whom had been his students at St. Michael’s. In addition, he had been active in helping to found our Department of Communications, and often came to campus to give talks and meet with the faculty and students. Stephanie McLuhan had come to our archives to do research on a book she later edited of her father’s unpublished lectures, some of which had been delivered at St. John Fisher College. It was later published as Understanding Me: Lectures and Essays, edited by Stephanie McLuhan and David Staines, with a foreword by Tom Wolfe [MIT Press, 2005). (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, below is the chapter's first paragraph. Best known as the editor-in-chief of the monumental Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Paul Edwards (1923-2004) was a modern philosophe. Like the Enlightenment writers he himself so admired, Voltaire, Diderot, and D'Alembert, he spent his career defending the ideas of rationalism, freethought, materialism, and the application of scientific methodology to philosophy. In addition, deeply influenced by the Vienna Circle, he used his editorship of the Encyclopedia to keep alive the memories of (...) many of the philosophers connected with that particular Logical Positivist movement. As a Positivist of sorts himself, he had no love for philosophers whom he considered to lack clarity, and like the philosophes—especially Voltaire, whose work he anthologized in a volume entitled Voltaire Selections—he had a gift for using biting humor to attack those with whom he disagreed. One of his foremost targets was Søren Kierkegaard, whom he considered to be the very model for how one should not do philosophy. While he referred several times in his writings and lectures to Kierkegaard's life and work, Edwards' best-known critique is found in the 1971 article "Kierkegaard and the 'Truth' of Christianity," published in Philosophy: The Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. (shrink)

In his Discourses, Epictetus writes, “When death appears to be an evil, we must have ready at hand the argument that it is our duty to avoid evils, and that death is an inevitable thing. For what can I do? Where shall I go to escape it?”1 This quote provides a suitable starting point by emphasizing the unpreventable and the avoidable. That which causes humans avoidable harm is “evil,” and we should elude it the best we can. The unpreventable aspects (...) of life can never be evil; death is one of those inevitable features, so we need to accept it with equanimity. With a similar Stoic disposition, Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) accepts death’s unavoidability while seeking to imagine the best way to live a quality life in response.2 He assumes neither an overly optimistic nor a pessimistic view of human finitude; instead, Thoreau reassesses death as a sad occasion while realizing that it enables new life to develop. Loss of life is part of a natural cycle including birth, maturation, and old age; yet Thoreau sees death as a possible moment for inspiration that can stimulate us to a new, better self based on responsibility and respect for the deceased. This new, better self manifests the deceased’s life by weaving the loved one’s traces into the fabric of its burgeoning present and future. In this way, Thoreau provides an orientation supporting those left behind by focusing on deliberately reconstructing a quality life with the dead in mind. (shrink)

In this paper, I will examine Aristotle’s concept of friendship as found in his famous work The Nichomachean Ethics, and then explore its relevance to the present-day, by comparing it to the work done by social psychologist Stanley Milgram on “familiar strangers.” I will also look at two works of popular culture, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s children’s novel The Little Prince, and the television program “Seinfeld” to show how they support the view that Aristotle’s writings are still good models for understanding (...) how friendships are formed and maintained. (shrink)

This chapter focuses on the complementary nature of the theory and practice of Jane Addams (1860–1935) and George Herbert Mead (1863–1931). When applied to intractable contemporary problems, the application of their combined insights “bends toward justice.” Both were theorist-activists who embraced a relational and interdependent conception of the self and insisted that, with empathetic understanding, progress toward justice could be incrementally achieved. This approach has contemporary relevance, particularly in today’s polarized society. Our social circles have narrowed, becoming more insular, our (...) political institutions have become more divisive, and the economic gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. Addams and Mead’s work help us see why these divisions are problematic and suggest possible paths for moving toward more just social, political, and economic arrangements. (shrink)

“The Growth of Feminist Pragmatism: Opening Channels for Cooperative Intelligence” tells of four academic conferences. One of the tenets of pragmatist philosophy is that a person’s intellectual growth is fostered through collaborative engagement with others. These four conferences confirm that observation. Charlene Haddock Seigfried’s initial work of identifying feminist pragmatists from pragmatism’s founding era has now grown into a much larger project of international scope. The first conference discussed in this essay, titled “Exploring Jane Addams,” was hosted at the University (...) of Dayton (Ohio, USA) in November 2002. Its interdisciplinary scope matched the wide range of Addams’s thoughts and activism. A second conference, “Feminist Pragmatism in Place,” was held in October 2012, also hosted by the University of Dayton. Speakers drew on pragmatism’s emphasis on social and historical context to explore the significance of location for feminist reflection. A third conference, “Looking Back to Move Forward,” held in November 2019 at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York (USA), drew deeply on Rochester’s history of social justice activism on behalf of marginalized groups, including women, Native Americans, and African-Americans. Finally, the essay discusses the first “Women in Pragmatism: International Conference” held in Europe, at the University of Barcelona in January 2020. The conference was truly international in its scientific and organizing committees, and in its program with speakers from ten countries. The essay concludes with reflections on the potential for growth as well as challenges for feminist pragmatism. (shrink)

Recognizing the importance of meaningful reflective writing as an integral component to the portfolios used in the first-year program (FYP), faculty questioned whether a newly developed electronic portfolio offered any pedagogical benefits over the existing traditional paper portfolio. Of particular interest for this work was whether the use of ePortfolios might positively impact students’ metacognitive skills. A study conducted with students and faculty in the FYP evaluated student understanding of purpose, significance, and relevancy in their reflective writings. Findings indicate that (...) while both types of portfolios, electronic and traditional paper, contribute positively to students’ learning related to “connections to the course,” students completing an ePortfolio show heightened levels of metacognition in relation to “connections to learning” and “connections to career or personal goals.". (shrink)

In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls offers a unique conception of justice as other philosophers have before him, such as Plato, Thomas Hobbes, and David Hume (Pomerleau n.d.). From a different angle, ethics of care philosophers have addressed justice too (Bubeck 1995; Engster 2007; Held 2006; Tronto 2013). For Western ethical and political thought in general, justice has been important, and existing political orders have made justice a significant, genuine virtue. In the United States, the Preamble of the Constitution (...) includes establishing justice as one of its goals; respect for justice molds American youth as they pledge allegiance to the flag, a recitation ending with the phrase “with liberty and justice for all” (Okin 1989, 3). Furthermore, James Madison believed that “justice is the end of government”, and the principles of justice help the majority to unite despite many parties and various interests (2003, 254-255). Arguably, Western society has failed to realize justice, whether this relates to race and police brutality, economic inequality and exploitation, oppression of women or people with different gender identities, or colonization and genocidal practices against Indigenous nations and peoples; some may claim Western societies have done more to promote injustice. In this essay, I will reimagine justice and offer an alternative interpretation: justice as preservative care for sustained peace. (shrink)

Social justice goals are usually sought in civic or community settings in which stakeholders represent competing frameworks about what is just, good, and true. Modeling for students a way to identify these competing frameworks, and then intervene in deliberations to achieve just ends, is the focus of our assignment sequence. We examine civic deliberations over removing racist public symbols in this assignment for first-year students enrolled in linked rhetoric and philosophy courses. We read broadly in theories of public memory and (...) civic identity, examine in depth one community’s deliberation, and reflect on public symbols in our home communities. The final joint assignment asks students to identify the principles that should guide deliberations about contested public symbols. We found that the assemblage of ideas that the students select from these pre-drafting activities shapes what they think is possible in the work of social justice; in other words, their own standpoint enables and limits what they see in the assemblage of ideas, sometimes limiting the arc of social justice insights and solutions, and sometimes unleashing it. For this reason, reflective writing is a necessary entwined process, one that can develop better awareness of how students’ epistemic norms shape their ability to imagine social justice ends. To most fully realize social justice knowledge, students must not stay bound within the contours of particular deliberations or inward reflection. Instead, assignments must enlarge the context, asking students to make bigger inquiries into history, context, and relations of domination. (shrink)

María Lugones’ concept of oppression and resistance, while being consonant with the American Pragmatist tradition, also furthers this tradition in important ways. Specifically, Lugones’ theory adds to our understanding of what it means to be oppressed as a necessarily transactional being by clarifying how oppression is woven (or “spatially mapped”) into our lived existence. In addition, her work offers an enhanced and more nuanced, interpersonal account of how, even in significantly oppressive situations, resistance is possible in and through the creation (...) of “active subjectivity,” or what John Dewey might call “ethereal identities.” With active subjectivity, individuals mapped into otherwise oppressive locations are able to create “relational identities that did not precede the encounter,” doing so in the “in-between spaces” of our mapped existence, allowing for liberating resistance and coalitions that would not otherwise be possible. (shrink)

This paper calls into question the assumptions implicit in many traditional theories of moral agency; namely, the assumption that moral agency requires the agent to be disinterested, disengaged, and psychically distant in order to be a good moral agent, an agent worthy of moral praise. I explore the nature of what it means to be a moral agent and, more broadly, what it means to live well as a human being and apply this analysis to education. The arguments made are (...) grounded in a naturalistic-transactional understanding of how the human being comes to be and continues to be in this world and spells out some of the implications of this understanding of the human individual for education. In addition, I suggest specifi c strategies for capitalizing on the transactional potential of the educational relationship between student and teacher. I argue that, if we take the human being to be a transactional being, i.e., an entity that comes into existence and continues to exist necessarily in and through co-constitutional exchanges with both human and non-human entities, then the role of education becomes central to this development of the individual. Further, it also becomes clear that education must be of a particular nature if it is going to foster the immediate and ongoing development of that individual as a fl ourishing human being. However, we must fi rst explore briefl y what is problematic about our traditional conception of education in order to see that change is required. (shrink)

St. John Fisher College's “health-care humanities” co-major, scheduled for implementation in Fall 2007, provides a systematic introduction to humanities for students pursuing degrees in the health sciences. The major includes a core focus on bioethics, an emphasis on methods, and opportunities for students to pursue internships. Providing a cultural and intellectual context for empirical and vocational programs, the health-care humanities co-major creates a focus for courses in philosophy, history, English, and religious studies and an interdisciplinary focus for the College’s mission-driven (...) emphasis on social justice and diversity. The program will capitalize on rich local resources, including a major teaching hospital with a thriving medical humanities program; ultimately we hope that it will provide a curricular focus that distinguishes St. John Fisher locally and nationally. We will provide an overview of the program and discuss two courses, one in philosophy and one in history, that will be included in the program. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here are the editorial's first two paragraphs: One of the most quoted phrases in current popular culture is “six degrees of separation.” It expresses the idea that, on average, any human being is connected with any other human being by at most six acquaintances. While there is much debate as to whether this is literally true, it is an interesting thought-experiment, as well as the basis for many fun parlor games. One of these is entitled (...) ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’, in which film fans try to connect the aforementioned actor with any other movie star with as few links as possible. I have been thinking of launching a similar parlor game called ‘Six Degrees of Bertrand Russell’, in which any figure from the past 200 years or so could be connected with Russell in as few steps as possible. Why Russell rather than, say, Ludwig Wittgenstein? For two reasons: first, Russell lived to the ripe old age of ninety-seven, and thus had the time to interact with a wide variety of people; and second, he was for most of that long life a celebrity, who rubbed elbows with all manner of individuals, many of whom were either celebrities themselves at the time or came to be celebrated later. Russell’s list of acquaintances stretched from Lenin to Lennon, from the Bloomsbury Set of the 1920s to the Doomsday Prophets of the 1960s, from William Gladstone to Harold Wilson. (shrink)

This article urges altering the discourse around social change. Too often it is antagonistic and negative; it also overlooks continuing colonizing practices and how injustices to Indigenous peoples have helped to shape past and current injustices toward other groups. First, the article foregrounds the religio-political ideology of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery and the boarding-school experience to remind readers about the broader criminal history of the United States toward Indigenous nations and peoples and how colonization is not a thing of (...) the past. Any call for social change should remember this. Second, the article looks at three dimensions of Indigenous philosophy that would be good to affirm as we strive for a better world: relatedness, sustained peace, and an ethic of preservative care. Limited calls for justice that avoid continuing colonizing practices and that begin with negations and hate are not responsible and will help to continue the sustained violence we no longer want. For sustained peace, the strategy should be to begin with an affirmation (here an affirmation of Indigenous wisdom) and a broader historical understanding of the injustices that continue to bring harm to millions of people within the borders of the United States. By changing the subject in this way, it will not only make for more peaceful activism, but it will also create better allies to Indigenous nations and peoples. (shrink)

This philosophical and sociological look at friendship and happiness begins with a review of Aristotle's three categories of friendship--friends of utility, friends of pleasure and friends of the good. Modern variations--casual friends, close friends, best friends--are described, along with the growing phenomena of virtual friendships and cyber socialization in the Internet age. Inspired in part by Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness, the authors propose that conquering unhappiness is key to achieving the self-satisfaction Russell called zest and Aristotle called eudaimonia (...) or thriving by our own efforts. -Publisher description. (shrink)

"Emphasizes the positive aspects of sports as they affect and are affected by values and culture. Ranges widely in its scope, moving from violence, gender, race, religion and economics, to the role of sports in high school and college life. Includes American and international aspects of sport, and a brief history from antiquity to the present" -- Provided by publisher.

In lieu of an abstract, here is the article's first paragraph: The topic of personal identity is one that I have in recent weeks really started to take personally. I’ve had some serious doubts as to just who I am, all because of uncertainties about the one fact I once felt completely confident about – my name. If there’s one thing you should be able to rely upon to know who you are it should be your own name, but lately (...) I’m not so sure. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is the article's first paragraph: Henry David Thoreau’s claim to be “a mystic, a transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher” took an unexpected turn for me. Spending much time with A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (my dissertation addresses the idea of religion found between its covers), I encountered a “liberation thinker” resisting the limitations of American culture while honoring the natural world and indigenous peoples. Thoreau’s epigraph reveals how he wants the muse (...) of his dead brother to inspire him, but the book also discloses how he wants the muse of indigenous peoples to inspirit and improve American culture. Impressively, he esteems nature as more than a symbol pointing to a distant divinity as he experiences its inherent sacredness. Natural creation is at once our house and being; we are immersed in and part of its continuous regenerative processes, which suggests familial bonds of sacredness uniting humans and nonhumans. Thoreau offers an alternative to social structures and outlooks that devalue human and nonhuman existence. (shrink)

It has become common practice for dermatologists to offer cosmetic enhancing products and procedures and to do so alongside the medically required services offered (e.g., annual skin checks, treatment of rashes, removal of pre-cancerous moles, etc.). As a patient, it is likely that a visit to the dermatologist will include exposure to advertisements for these cosmetic products and procedures. Advertisements are found in the waiting area, examination room, and, in some cases, even at checkout in the form of a coupon (...) for future use, all situated where the patient is a captive audience. This practice may not be the cause of our society’s ubiquitous focus on beauty as perfection; however, these practices arguably contribute to this culture, harming not only individual patients but also society as a whole. Further, since the physician’s endorsement of these products and procedures carries added weight, above and beyond that of a normal citizen or another non-medical professional, the impact on perpetuating a culture of beauty as perfection is even greater. Given this, in this essay I argue that the practice of dermatologists advertising, offering, and profiting from cosmetic enhancing products and procedures is unethical, violating the most basic bioethical principles. To demonstrate how this is the case I unpack how the culture of beauty as perfection is oppressive and therefore problematic; how dermatologist feed into, perpetuate, and profit from this culture; and how this practice is an ethical violation. Central to my analysis is an account of the commonly accepted bioethical principles within a framework of a social conception of the self. The implications of this analysis and findings include a need for clear guidelines offered by various medical oversight associations including the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), the American Society for Dermatological Surgery (ASDS) and the American Medical Association (AMA). These guidelines should reflect a robust ethical analysis of this practice, ideally in conversation with the analysis offered herein. Once offered, physicians should follow these guidelines and, until then, should proceed with an abundance of caution, ideally ceasing to advertise, promote, or use biotechnologies in their practices for solely cosmetic reasons until more nuanced guidelines are available. (shrink)

This philosophical and sociological look at friendship and happiness begins with a review of Aristotle's three categories of friendship--friends of utility, friends of pleasure and friends of the good. Modern variations--casual friends, close friends, best friends--are described, along with the growing phenomena of virtual friendships and cyber socialization in the Internet age. Inspired in part by Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness, the authors propose that conquering unhappiness is key to achieving the self-satisfaction Russell called zest and Aristotle called eudaimonia (...) or thriving by our own efforts. -Publisher description. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is the article's first paragraph: The noted philosopher and Santayana scholar Irving Singer, author of the magisterial three-volume work The Nature of Love, died on February 1, 2015, aged 89. Singer was born in Brooklyn on December 24, 1925, and served in World War II. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 1948, under the G.I. Bill. The following year he wed Josephine Fisk, an opera singer with whom he had four children. They (...) spent a year at Oxford (1949–1950), during which time Singer read The Last Puritan, and in 1950 they took a trip to Italy to meet its author. This trip is related in detail in the delightful article, “A Pilgrimage to Santayana,” which can be found in Singer’s 2000 book George Santayana, Literary Philosopher, an essential work for anyone interested in the life and thought of Santayana. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is the chapter's first paragraph: MOST OF BERTRAND RUSSELL'S BIOGRAPHERS do not even mention Horace Liveright, yet Liveright was a key player in the development of Russell as a popular philosopher and public intellectual. In particular, it was on a commission from Liveright that Russell wrote three of his best-selling books, books that are still in print and that many people have found helpful.

The essays in this volume treat topics from education to publishing, from academic freedom to political activism, from Russell's possible adoption of new communication modes (were he alive today) to the representation of his life and ideas in fiction. They reflect the engagement of Bertrand Russell in public affairs over three quarters of a century. They also reflect the diverse interestes that bring scholars together in the Russell Society to study his manifold works. The consistently first-rate papers in this collection (...) serve as a powerful reminder of the breadth and depth of the contributions from one of the leading philosophers of the Twentieth Century. Those of us familiar with Russell's writings have always been impressed by the range of topics that concerned Bertie. His commitment to the examined life, with all its foibles, shines bright in this set of essays. This text is an invaluable resource for students of Russell's life and thought (Kenneth Blackwell and Alan Schwerin). -Publisher description. (shrink)

As the “culture of the people,” popular culture provides a sense of identity that binds individuals to the greater society and unites the masses on ideals of acceptable forms of behavior. Lessons Learned from Popular Culture offers an informative and entertaining look at the social relevance of popular culture. Focusing on a wide range of topics, including film, television, social media, music, radio, cartoons and comics, books, fashion, celebrities, sports, and virtual reality, Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan demonstrate how popular (...) culture, in contrast to folk or high culture, gives individuals an opportunity to impact, modify, or even change prevailing sentiments and norms of behavior. For each topic, they include six engaging and accessible stories that conclude with short life lessons. Whether you’re a fan of The Big Bang Theory or Seinfeld, the Beatles or Beyoncé, Charlie Brown or Superman, there’s something for everyone. -Publisher description. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is the chapter's first paragraph: IN DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER JOHN MICHAEL MCDONAGH'S 2011 Quentin Tarantino-Hke comic film The Guard, there is a bizarre scene where three hit men, for no apparent reason, while driving down an Irish road get into a heated debate over who the world's greatest philosopher might be. It is amusing that the chauvinistic characters are willing to reconsider Russell's greatness once they can stop thinking of him as an Englishman, but no doubt (...) Lord Russell himself, given his cosmopolitan leanings as well as his oft-professed love for his Englishness, might have been doubly offended by their banter, not to say their subsequent actions of gunning down a police officer in cold blood. Still, it's yet another example of Russell's ubiquitiousness. His name and image often pop up in the most unexpected places. (shrink)

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) famously proclaimed that “God is dead and we have killed Him.” Might one say similarly that in today s “winner take all” society “sportsmanship is dead and we have killed it”? Is the very concept no longer relevant in the modern age of competitive sports? In this essay I will show how three long dead philosophers—Aristotle, Kant, and the aforementioned Nietzsche—still have much to teach us about sportsmanship and its continued relevance for the present day.

Select freshman writing courses at St. John Fisher College are piloting the use of eportfolios in place of the traditional portfolios. The College has created templates that are designed so direct links between course work, goals, and student reflections are explicit. The intent of our study is to evaluate the differences in student’s reflective writing from a variety of freshman level writing courses, including both those using eportfolios and those using traditional paper portfolios. Using a rubric that evaluates student reflections (...) on their understanding of purpose, significance, and relevancy, as well as the student’s overall performance, we will share the results on students' metacognitive abilities to connect course work with program goals, academic, and personal interests. The use of eportfolios at the College is specifically designed with a holistic view of the student. Our student eportfolios include academic, non-academic, personal and career components and are used by students both as a requirement within courses and programs, as well as on a voluntary basis. This framework is key to the implementation of eportfolios for us, as it requires students totake ownership of their learning, promotes evaluation of their own skill development, as well as learn to write for a broad audience. In the presentation we will discuss: · A brief history and philosophy of eportfolios on our campus · A demonstration of our template infrastructure, including the connection with our courses, programs and college-wide learning goals · Findings from our research study described above · Implications for all eportfolio users on the use of reflection within ePortfolios to increase metacognitive skills of students. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is the chapter's first paragraph: ONE OF THE MOST QUOTED PHRASES in current popular culture is "six degrees of separation." It expresses the idea that, on average, any human ^being is connected with any other human being by at most six acquaintances. While there is much debate as to whether this is literally true, it is an interesting thought-experiment, as well as the basis for many fun parlor games. One of these is entitled "Six (...) Degrees of Kevin Bacon," in which film fans try to connect the aforementioned actor with any other movie star with as few links as possible. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is the chapter's first paragraph: JOHN DEWEY AND BERTRAND RUSSELL were two of the premier philosophers of the twentieth century. During their long lives (each lived to be over 90), their paths crossed on several occasions. While cordial enough when in each others presence, the two men were definitely not on the best of terms. Sidney Hook, who knew and admired them both, once said that there were only two men who Dewey actively disliked—Mortimer (...) Adler and Bertrand Russell. Russell, for his part, never tired of making disparaging remarks about the pragmatists in general and Dewey in particular. This irked Dewey immensely. Still, the two men shared many philosophical traits—an internationalist outlook, a high regard for the scientific method, a concern for social matters, and a suspicion of dogma, especially religious dogma. In this chapter, I will focus upon the educational theories of Russell and Dewey, including the curious fact that each of them (for a short period of time) ran their own elementary schools. (shrink)