The Philosophy of the Present

By George Herbert Mead

Book Overview

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) had a powerful influence on the development of American pragmatism. This classic work represents Mead's philosophy of experience, so central to his outlook. The present as unique experience is the focus of this deep analysis of the basic structure of temporality and consciousness, which emphasizes the novel character of both the present and the past, contrary to the assumptions of science. This novelty within perceived reality is the crux of the problem that Mead explores. Each new experience causes us to reconstruct preceding experiences to make sense of the past, which is assumed to be the main cause of what we presently experience. Our reality is conditioned by each new event and it changes continuously as the effects of the present shift our view of the past and future. This emphasis on the integrative nature of reality makes Mead's philosophy highly relevant to today's quantum universe, in which chance and probability play key roles. Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226516709
• ISBN13: 9780226516707
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A Great Book Indeed

Mead is one of the key American pragmatists, and this book is his most important philosophical essay. The subject is primarily metaphysics: a relativist theory of time and space and the objective character of perspectives. So the book is for the most part quite abstract and therefore difficult, but Mead is thorough and repeats his points, so with a little patience a nonphilosopher can follow his reasoning. Mead's more familiar "sociology" about the social self and the collective other are discussed but not extensively.