Epistemology seeks to describe the structure of true propositions and arguments and to define criteria that allow us to distinguish knowledge from what is not knowledge. While epistemological categorization thus provides a useful tool for scientific, philosophical and political discourse and seems to be indispensible for rational thinking, it always at the same time threatens to limit and restrict the creative advance of our philosophical
understanding. Following and building upon Cornel West’s reading of classical American philosophy, the series of lectures offers a perspective on representative authors of Transcendentalism, Pragmatism and Neopragmatism
as ways of ‘doing philosophy’ that challenge the idea of the need for an epistemological foundation of rational thought. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, William James, Alfred North Whitehead and Richard Rorty offer attempts at structuring experiential reality without settling or fixing it, thereby opening up the path for the modern tradition of process philosophy. The course consists of five successive lectures, each comprising 60 minutes of presentation and 30 minutes of discussion.

Suggested reading:
•        Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays. First Series (especially “Circles”)
•        Henry David Thoreau, Walden (especially the chapter on “Economy”)
•        William James, Pragmatism (especially lectures 2 and 6)
•        Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (chapter 1)
•        Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony and Solidarity (especially
chapters 1-3)