Reck, Andrew J.  The New American Philosophers: An Exploration of Thought Since World War II. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968.

Abstract

The golden age of American philosophy did not end with World War I. Neither did it end with the Great Depression, or with World War II. Indeed, it continues to the present. The richness, diversity, and originality of contemporary American philosophy is reflected here in the first major assessment of the philosophical contributions in this country since World War I. The New American Philosophers is a sequel to Andrew J. Reck's earlier book, Recent American Philosophy, which treats philosophy in this country during the period between the two world wars. Rwelve contemporary philosophers are presented here with particular attention to the development and the total structure of their thought. The new American philosophers are C. I. Lewis, Stephen Pepper, Brand Blanshard, Ernest Nagel, John Herman Randall, Jr., Justus Buchler, Sidney Hook, F. S. C. Northrop, James Kern Feibleman, John Wild, Charles Hartshorne, and Paul Weiss. Although all twelve were working and writing before World War II, their major works have appeared since the war. Criticism is kept to a minimum, and they are allowed - as far as possible - to speak for themselves through abundant quotations from their works. Nine of the welve are treated in separate chapters, but three of them - Nagel, Randall, and Buchler, the Columbia naturalists - share a single chapter because of their philosophical principles and their common institutional affiliation. Reck examines and evaluates their and discusses all the methods and positions influencing contemporary American philosophy - naturalism, pragmatism, idealism, realism, materialism, process philosophy, existentialism, logical empiricism, linguistic analysis, and phenomenology. In addition, he appraises developments in special branches of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, aesthetics, value theory, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion. The author also evaluates the influence of the classic six American philosophers - Royce, James, Peirce, Dewey, Santayana, and Whitehead - on these more recent thinkers. "In spite of the neglect they have suffered by comparison with attention given to other fields," Reck says, "the new American philosophers have persevered, and their contributions are all the more remarkable. They are perpetuators of the golden age of American thought." In the works of these twelve men, he says, "are to be found the fundamental elements of significant philosophy - vision, scope, depth, and pertinence of practice." The New American Philosophers demonstrates that American philosophy is a plurality of philosophies, that the views of contemporary American philosophers are as diverse as the forces and factors in the American culture, and that, in the author's words, "Classic philosophers are still among us."